17 Georgians Detained in Greece for Grave Crimes
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, May 23
Seventeen Georgian citizens, involved in more than 100 cases of alleged grave crimes, have been detained in Greece this week due to the cooperation of Georgian and Greek law enforcers, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on Monday.
The Ministry stated that the special operation against the criminal group composed of Georgians was detained on May 21.
“The detainees have had close ties with so-called criminal boss Nodar Shukakide (nicknamed Nodar Gldansky), who was detained during the special operation held in France and Greece in April,” the Georgian Interior Ministry stated.
“The detainees have committed about 100 various crimes on the territory of Greece. They are accused of robbery, stealing, as well as possession and the sale of a large amount of stolen items. The detainees also illegally possessed firearms,” the Georgian Ministry announced.
The crimes, committed by the detainees, envisage up to 20 years of imprisonment.
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 operation named Caucase Normandie was held simultaneously in French and Greek cities to detain the suspects accused of hundreds of robberies, the possession and sale of robbed items and money laundering.
The four criminal bosses detained were Lasha Shushanashvili , Aleksandre Kobaladze, Nodar Shukakidze and Merab Asanidze. Shukakidze and Kobaladze were detained in France, while Asanidze and Shukakidze were detained in Greece.
