Interior Minister Claims ‘Criminal World’ Hit by Major Blow

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said that “the criminal world” in Georgia was hit by a painful blow after law enforcers siezed the so-called ‘budget’ of criminal bosses and arrested 18 criminal suspects on December 20.

The 18 people arrested as a result of a police operation in Tbilisi have been charged with having links with the “thieves’ world.” A law passed by parliament in 2005 to crack down on organized crime defines the term “thieves’ world” as a group of persons which acts in accordance with special criminal rules and aims at gaining profit through intimidation, threats and crime. The “thieves’ world” is led by a “thief in law,” who is a criminal boss.

“These arrested persons have been engaged in the collection of so-called obshiak… and the obshiak has also been recovered,” Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said. ‘Obshiak’ is a term referring to money collected through payments extorted through blackmail and racketeering, as well as money exerted from prisoners.

Merabishvili did not specify the amount of money recovered from the criminal suspects.

“The criminal world was hit with a serious blow, as its major backbone has been recovered… This is a major step forwards towards defeating the criminal world in Georgia,” Merabishvili said.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)