Bank robber’s arrest “warning signal” to “criminal romantics” - Justice Minister

Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze on Wednesday responded to the arrest of a bank robber who had been wanted for two years by saying the detention was a “warning signal to all criminal romantics succumbed to temptation”. 

Extending his congratulations to the country’s law enforcement officers and the Interior Minister on the “successful raid”, the official stressed in his social media post the arrest of Badri Esebua, a 35-year-old offender wanted since October 2020 for his robbery of a Bank of Georgia branch in the country’s western Samegrelo region, was “more than a restoration of justice”.

The Interior Ministry on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of the offender who took 43 people hostage in the city of Zugdidi on October 21, 2020, before "long and complicated negotiations" ended in the release of most of the victims later that day.

Esebua left the Bank with the head of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Police Chief and three hostages, before releasing the remaining hostages and escaping. 

Charged with coercion, illegal purchase, possession and carrying of firearms and ammunition, organisation of a terrorist act and hostage-taking, the offender is facing up to 15 years in prison.