MIA arrests 10 members of organised crime group in cooperation with French police

French police, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, have arrested members of a criminal group. 10 among the detainees are Georgians. Two of them are criminal bosses. 

An operation under the name "VORS 69-01" was carried out in Lyon on 10 December and 22 members of a criminal gang acting in France and Belgium were arrested as a result.

10 among the detainees are Georgians. Two of them, Mindia Nizharadze and Revaz Seskuria, are ‘thieves in law’ .

Investigators said that the detainees were involved in the robbery of houses which were identified and studied in advance. They were also stealing cars, falsifying documents and involved in drug trafficking.

The operation was preceded by several months long cooperation and joint work between the criminal units of the Georgian, French and Belgian police.

More than 300 police officers from the three countries have been involved in the operation including special units.

Georgian and French police have showcased how effective bilateral cooperation is. I want to emphasise the successful involvement and mobilisation of the Georgian police in the fight against organised crime,” Interior Security Attaché of the Embassy of France, Bruno Balduc, said at a briefing held with the Head of the Central Criminal Department of the MIA Vladimer Botsvadze.

Evidence found by investigators at the homes of the detainees is worth more than 400,000 Euros. The detainees are facing up to 15 years of imprisonment.