Although transnational crime is the biggest challenge for law enforcement agencies the prosecutor’s office Georgia has proved its skills to crack it. It has cracked as a very highlighted theft case involving international criminals.
This was a joint operation with the help of the agencies of France, Switzerland, and Lithuania. The four members of the gang were also arrested. For this purpose an international investigative team was created with the support of agencies from three countries. Meanwhile a large-scale event was held in Georgia regarding the theft of expensive books from libraries in EU countries.
Joint investigative actions in dozens of locations across Georgia were conducted by the representatives of these agencies. During the search operation a significant amount of cash and hundreds of books were seized including a 19th-century French-language book allegedly stolen from the National Library of Paris during a search of the residence of one of the arrested persons.
The investigation established that some citizens of Georgia formed an organized criminal group to steal the expensive books by various 19th-century authors for further sale throughout Europe. They used fake identity cards, fictitious names and surnames, and pre-made counterfeit book samples to replace the original ones.
The arrested person has been charged with subsections “A” and “B” of Article 177 along with Part 4 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (large-scale theft committed by an organized group), which is punishable by 6 to 10 years in prison.
The representative of the Prosecutor’s office said they will appeal the court to send the accused into custody as a preventative measure. They also express gratitude to the employees of the countries involved in the international investigation team. They thanked the representatives of Eurojust and Europol for their assistance during the joint event.
The prosecutor official also vowed their fight against transnational crime and reiterated its readiness for effective international cooperation in this regard in the future.
