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.
The Interior Ministry says that members of the criminal underworld kidnapped a Georgian businessman, and held him hostage in a rented apartment in March 2020.
The offenders called a Georgian “thief-in-law” abroad and forced him to pay $7,500 (about €6,836) in exchange for the release of the businessman. He was also forced to pay $50,000 (about €45,578) over the course of two months.
The Interior Ministry also reports that three detainees, only identified as T.O., L.Sh., and G.D. were involved in disputes regarding the sale of vehicles. With the support of other ‘thieves-in-law’ they extorted individuals and later they used the money to support several activities of the criminal underworld.
Law enforcers seized three expensive cars and cash ($16,000/€13,052), computers and mobile phones, through which the detainees had contact with each other and Georgian ‘thieves-in-low’.
The crime is punishable by three to 10 years in prison.