The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia detained two so-called thieves-in-law and eight members of an organized crime group in France, - Vladimer Bortsvadze, Director of Central Criminal Police Department, said at a briefing on Monday.

He said that Georgian law enforcers continue active cooperation with European colleagues, Interpol and Europol as a result of which another successful special operation was conducted in France.

“On December 10 a large-scale special operation "VORS 69-01" was conducted in Lyon, France, and 22 members of the Georgian, Armenian and Azeri organized criminal group operating in France and Belgium, were detained. 10 citizens of Georgia, including two "thieves- in- law” are among the detainees,” Vladimer Bortsvadze said.

During the search of the houses of the detainees, police seized various items as evidence, including jewelry, firearms, expensive cars, large amounts of money, equipment for preparing counterfeit documents, keys. Law enforcers also seized narcotic drugs of Subotex and Methadone group and seized 1500 packages of smuggled cigarettes. According to the investigation, total damage amounted to more than EUR 400,000.

The detained Georgian citizens are charged with criminal offenses under Articles 311, 321, 324, and 450 of the French Criminal Code, which implies repeatedly committed robbery, keeping and selling of stolen goods, money laundering and criminal conducts by gang members. The crime envisages up to 15 years of imprisonment.

More than 300 law enforcers from France, Belgium and Georgia participated in the detention operation. Special Forces Units were also involved and a helicopter was used in the operation.