Three members of criminal underworld arrested in Georgia in agreement with Europol
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Three members of the "criminal underworld” arrested by Georgian police in Tbilisi and in the Kakheti region on April 19 had been actively working with so called "thieves-in-law” recently arrested in Europe, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal affairs says.
The arrests come in the wake of the capture of four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
Georgian legislation defines a ‘thief-in-law’ as a person who manages in any form and/or organises the activities of the criminal underworld or a certain group of criminal individuals. ‘Criminal discussions’ are defined as assessments and evaluations of a situation between feuding criminal groups with the aim of resolving disputes in the criminal underworld.
Dimitri Chrelashvili, Givi Begiashvili and Kakha Bezhitashvili were cooperating with the criminal underworld, investigators said. The investigation found that the three people managed a "criminal discussion” for one person and demanded 60,000 GEL for their services, threatening to injure his family members and damage his property should he fail to pay up. The crime committed by them is punishable by five to eight years of imprisonment.
"They recognize the so called "criminal underworld”, were actively involved in "criminal discussions” and had been in communication with ‘thieves-in-law’ – Malkhaz Zedelashvili, Kakha Shavliashvili, Abesalom Papiashvili and Giorgi Khatiashvili in Europe,” Mamuka Chelidze, Head of the division of combating organised crimes at the Interior Ministry said.
Amendments to a law on combating organised crime and racketeering was passed by the Georgian parliament on April 19. The new law specifies definitions of the terms: "criminal underworld”, "member of the criminal underworld”, "thieves-in-law”, and "criminal discussion” and also established a sentence the crime of associating and cooperating with the "criminal underworld”.
Amendments to a law on combating organised crime and racketeering come in the wake of the recent arrest of four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups in France and Greece.
Four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups were detained in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
The Georgian Interior Ministry and the country’s police attaché to Greece have helped Greek law enforcers to detain four Georgian members of a criminal group.
Four Georgian members of a criminal group have been detained in Madrid several days ago with the help of Georgia’s Interior Ministry, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has reported.
The Georgian Interior Ministry and Greek police have detained 17 members of a criminal group as the result of a joint investigation today in Athens.
Four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups were detained in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has arrested six individuals on charges of ‘belonging to the criminal underworld’ in Zestaponi and Tbilisi.
Avtandil Khurtsidze, a boxing champion and enforcer of Razhden Shulaya, a "thief-in-law,” has been found guilty of racketeering and related charges in connection with a sprawling and violent criminal enterprise operating in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and abroad.
Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that threats coming from the possibility of Georgian asylum seekers cooperating with members of organised crime have been ‘neutralised’ as the result of ‘effective cooperation’ with the country’s European partners.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrested six individuals for membership in the ‘criminal underworld’. Head of the Main Division of the Fight against Organised Crime Mamuka Chelidze said at today’s briefing that the detainees were involved in criminal activities supporting the 'criminal underworld'.
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.
UK Interior Minister Sajid Javid phoned Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia yesterday to thank him for the support in detaining British convict Jack Shepherd in Georgia this week.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has detained five who were involved in a so-called ‘meeting of criminal bosses’.
Georgia will become the first country in the South Caucasus to sign an agreement with the EU agency Eurojust which was created in 2002 to help EU member and several non-member countries cooperate more effectively to combat terrorism and serious crimes, the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has detained three individuals for ‘membership in the criminal underworld’ and ‘requesting help from criminal bosses to settle a dispute’.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has detained an Azerbaijani citizen who has been wanted by Interpol since February 2019 for fraud.
Georgia has become the first country in the South Caucasus which signed an agreement with the EU agency Eurojust, created in 2002 to help EU member and several non-member countries cooperate more effectively to combat terrorism and serious crimes, the Georgian Justice Ministry reports.
10 have been detained and one was charged with membership in the criminal underworld, the Georgian Interior Ministry has reported earlier today.
Two individuals, including the former head of the Municipal Service Development Agency of Tbilisi City Hall, have been detained and three others have been charged with abuse of authority, misappropriation of funds and support of illegal activity by the Georgian State Security Service.
Georgian Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office have detained four Georgia citizens in a joint operation for membership in the criminal underworld and appealing to criminal bosses to settle disputes.
The Georgian Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office have detained 13 individuals in a joint operation for their membership in the criminal underworld, appealing to criminal bosses and illegal deprivation of liberty.
Georgian law enforcers have detained eight individuals for membership in ‘the criminal underworld’, while two Georgian ‘’thieves-in-law’ living abroad have been charged in absentia, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The two individuals, identified as D.Kh. born in 1974 and N.B. born in 1997, who acted on behalf of ‘thief-in-law’ Boria Apakidze, had demanded from a businessman in Tetritskaro municipality to pay them $10,000.