Prosecutor's Office charges bank robber Esebua with additional crime

The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia has brought one more criminal charge against the bank robber Badri Esebua for the purchase and storage of firearms and ammunition in addition to the charges pressed against him on Monday for coercion, illegal purchase, possession and carrying of firearms and ammunition, organisation of a terrorist act and hostage-taking, the Office announced on Thursday.

The state body said law enforcement officers had seized a Makarov-type pistol, ammunition, as well as a passport of Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia and Russian Rubles during the special operation.

The Georgian Interior Ministry on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of Esebua, who was wanted since October 2020 for a robbery of a Bank of Georgia branch in the country’s western Samegrelo region, during which he took hostages and reportedly escaped with half a million dollars. 

The crimes are punishable by up to ten to 15 years of imprisonment.