Interior Ministry arrests five involved in meeting of criminal bosses

The Georgian Interior Ministry has detained five who were involved in a so-called ‘meeting of criminal bosses’. 

The detainees may face six-10 years in jail for the crimes they have committed”, First Deputy Interior Minister Kakha Sabanadze said at a ministry briefing earlier today.

The five were arrested for their involvement in the ‘criminal underworld’, involvement in the meeting of criminal bosses and supporting the ‘criminal world’ as well.

The investigation has established that the meeting of criminal bosses was held in a Tbilisi apartment on 27 January 2019 in order to settle a conflict between a Georgian national identified as only M.K. and a businessman identified as J.M.

So-called Georgian criminal boss Sulkhan Japaridze (previously called Sulkhan Tvalchrelidze) contacted meeting participants via the internet. He settled the dispute between the parties due to his criminal influence.

Sulkhan Japaridze has been wanted by Interpol since 2016.

The law enforcers recorded the meeting secretly based on the ordinance of a judge and afterwards, detained the five on 11 February in Tbilisi. Sulkhan Japaridze was charged in absentia.

Earlier in August 2018, the Georgian Interior Ministry stated that the list of crimes in the criminal code related to so-called criminal bosses and their activities had expanded.