Armenian Banana Importer Reports Acid Attack on His Warehouses

Unidentified persons broke into the Yerevan warehouses of the newly-founded banana importing company Tropica on Thursday and poured acid on refrigerators where bananas imported by the company are stored. “It’s clear that they don’t want us to import bananas,” Tropica founding manager Vahram Mirakyan told Epress.am.

Tropica has been importing 40-60 tonnes of bananas to Armenia monthly since the end of 2016. The company has a number of contracts with major supermarket chains to which it sells the produce. Tropica was founded in late 2016, after prime minister Karen Karapetyan made a  speech promising to end monopolies on imports of goods to Armenia. “If anyone faces any obstacles, they should phone me personally,” the PM had said.

“Logic says the incident is linked to our business activities. There are apparently certain people who don’t want us in the field of banana imports,” Mirakyan told our reporter. The businessman added that they were still trying to ascertain the damages in the aftermath of the attack.

Note, prior to Karen Karapetyan’s speech, banana imports to Armenia used to be monopolized by the Catherine Group company reportedly owned by Mihran Poghosyan, former head of the Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service. Poghosyan left his post in spring 2016 and has since been elected to the Armenian National Assembly on the ticket of the ruling Republican Party.