Gang members arrested in Paris as a result of Georgian, French police cooperation

Twenty-seven Georgians are among the 37 members of a criminal gang who have been charged with property theft in France.

The gang members were arrested after tight cooperation between the Georgian and French police, the Georgian Interior Ministry said in a statement today.

The ministry said that the investigation uncovered that the charged defendants were robbing stores and homes on a daily basis in Paris and nearby cities.

"It was also uncovered that these people would contact Paris-based Armenian citizens to help sell the stolen items”, the statement read.

After searching their homes, police found large amounts of cash, also different types of guns, masks, fake documents, lock-picking tools and stolen cars.

Among those detained, there were five individuals known as "thieves-by-law”. This is a term which refers to an order of elite criminals from the former Soviet Union who receive tribute from other criminals, offer protection, and use their recognised status to adjudicate disputes among lower-level criminals.

The Georgian Ambassador to France, Eka Siradze-Delaunay, told Georgian media that there is no reason to think that this criminal case can pose a threat to Georgia’s visa-free regime with the EU. She added that it has not yet been made clear whether these people were in France illegally or they had a permit to be there.

"This is a different matter. I don’t think that 37 people can pose a threat to the visa-free regime”, the ambassador told online newspaper Netgazeti.