Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts, carried out a successful police operation across multiple locations in the country, detaining 14 Turkish citizens, Deputy Director of the Central Criminal Police Department, Irakli Dondoladze, announced at a briefing.

According to Dondoladze, 11 of the detainees were wanted internationally by Turkish authorities through Interpol Red Notices issued over the past five years, while three were wanted nationally. Investigations revealed that most of the detainees had entered Georgia before international searches were issued, and some had entered illegally, prompting criminal proceedings.

The detainees face accusations in 26 cases, including serious and especially serious crimes such as production, sale, purchase, and possession of narcotics and psychotropic substances, theft, intentional bodily harm, threats, illegal possession of firearms, property damage, committing a depraved act against a minor, membership in a criminal organization, fraud, and murder.

Legal procedures are underway to ensure their transfer to Turkish authorities. The operation involved close coordination between Georgian law enforcement units, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interpol National Bureau of Turkey, the Turkish National Police for Combating Organized Crime, and Turkish police and gendarmerie attaches in Georgia.

Dondoladze expressed special gratitude to Turkish colleagues, noting that the longstanding cooperation between Georgia and Turkey in law enforcement allows for effective combat against organized crime. He added that a similar joint operation in August last year also led to the detention of 14 individuals wanted internationally by Turkey.