Georgia’s Interior Ministry arrested 27 people and charged six more on July 28 over alleged ties to the country’s criminal underworld. Investigators say the group took orders from Mamuka Chkhaberidze, an alleged “thief in law” who has not set foot in Georgia. All 33 defendants face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
It is a scene Georgia has staged many times since 2006, when a new law drove the country’s entire class of organized crime bosses into prison cells or across the border. Two decades later, the border crossing still works.
Georgia’s Underworld Sweep Nets 27 Arrests
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Georgia’s police and security agency, held a briefing on July 28 to announce the results of raids carried out over the previous 24 hours. Officers searched homes and offices, seizing computer equipment and mobile phones investigators say the suspects used to communicate with each other and with Chkhaberidze, along with firearms and ammunition.
They systematically communicated with each other and organized so-called thieves’ meetings, where decisions were made in accordance with thieves’ traditions.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said in its July 28 briefing. Investigators allege the group settled financial disputes between individuals, ordering the losing side to pay not only the other party but members of the group itself. Anyone who missed a payment deadline, the ministry said, was threatened with physical violence or death.
The case rests on four articles of Georgia’s Criminal Code, each aimed at a different layer of the alleged operation:
- Article 223¹ – membership in the criminal underworld, including holding the status of “thief in law”
- Article 223³ – organizing or attending a “thieves’ meeting,” the sit-down where the group allegedly set rules and settled disputes
- Article 223⁴ – invoking or using a thief in law’s authority to enforce a decision
- Article 236 – tied to the firearms and ammunition agents say they recovered in the searches
Conviction on any of the four carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
The 2005 Law That Targets the Title Itself
Georgia’s approach to organized crime is unusual by design. In 2005, parliament passed a law criminalizing organized crime and racketeering that borrowed from the American RICO statute (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) and Italian anti-mafia codes, tools built to prosecute a criminal structure rather than a single act. A year later, on September 13, 2006, lawmakers added Article 223¹, making membership in the “community of thieves in law” a crime on its own, regardless of whether prosecutors could prove a specific robbery, assault or extortion.
The effect was immediate. Within about a year of the new article taking effect, close to every recognized thief in law in Georgia was either in prison or had left the country, according to a legal review of Georgia’s anti-mafia statutes. Ukraine borrowed the same model in 2020, passing its own law against the thieves’ code after watching Georgia’s version work for more than a decade.
The law’s path from a narrow anti-mafia tool to a running national campaign spans two decades:
- 2005: Georgia adopts the Law on Combating Organized Crime and Racketeering.
- September 13, 2006: Article 223¹ makes membership in the thieves’ underworld, and the status of thief in law itself, a standalone crime.
- 2020: Ukraine passes a similar law, citing Georgia’s campaign as its model.
- January to July 2026: MIA reports 343 people arrested and charged over alleged underworld links, including eight thieves in law, culminating in the July 28 sweep of 27.
The Accused Boss Stayed Out of Reach
Chkhaberidze fits a pattern that goes back to the law’s earliest days. When Article 223¹ took effect in 2006, Georgia’s thieves in law did not wait around to be arrested. Most crossed the border first, regrouping abroad while keeping contact with associates still inside Georgia. Investigators say Chkhaberidze has run his network the same way, by phone and computer, from outside the country, while the people carrying out his instructions stayed exposed to Georgian police.
In Georgian, the term for the role is kanonieri qurdi. It is a title, documented by researchers studying the region’s informal power structures, earned inside the prison and underworld system rather than one anyone can claim for themselves. Holding it, the MIA alleges, gave Chkhaberidze the standing to order payments and authorize threats without ever appearing in Georgia himself.
343 Names and Counting Since January
The July 28 operation was not an isolated case. Georgian authorities have run at least two other large sweeps against the same underworld network so far in 2026, each announced through similar MIA briefings.
| 2026 Operation | People Held | Reported Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Earlier sweep | 21 arrested | Separate case tied to the criminal underworld network, per Georgia Today |
| Earlier sweep | 44 arrested | MIA cited complex operational and investigative measures based on court orders, per Interpressnews |
| July 28 sweep (this case) | 27 arrested, 6 charged | Six charged include Chkhaberidze, who remains abroad |
| Year to date, since Jan. 1 | 343 arrested and charged | Includes eight alleged thieves in law |
Each case followed a similar script: financial disputes escalating into threats, communication routed through an alleged authority abroad, and searches turning up phones, computers and weapons.
Georgian security agencies widened other nets in 2026 too. In a separate case, authorities carried out an espionage arrest of a Kremlin-linked NGO head, part of a wider security crackdown that has run alongside the underworld sweeps this year.
Turkey Sends Dozens Back; Chkhaberidze Stays Free
Georgia’s extradition machinery works often enough elsewhere. Authorities have handed more than 30 fugitives over to Turkey so far in 2026, and a joint operation with Turkish police this year captured 14 fugitives wanted on Interpol red notices. That cooperation has not touched Chkhaberidze, whose current location the ministry has not disclosed.
The network’s reach extends beyond Georgia’s own courts, too. The U.S. Department of Justice has separately convicted a Georgian organized crime boss and his associates on extortion charges, prosecuted under America’s own racketeering laws. The pattern MIA describes in Tbilisi, a title holder directing lower-ranking members while staying insulated from arrest, has surfaced in American courtrooms as well.
What Happens to the Defendants Now?
The 27 people arrested face formal charges in the coming days. The case against Chkhaberidze and the other five defendants moves separately, since he remains outside Georgian jurisdiction. Prosecutors will build it on the four criminal code articles cited in the ministry’s statement, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Investigators have not said whether Chkhaberidze will be tried in absentia or whether Georgia will formally seek his extradition once his location is confirmed. Chkhaberidze’s exact whereabouts remain undisclosed. Two decades after Article 223¹ first emptied Georgia’s prisons of its old mob bosses by pushing them over the border, the newest case follows the same line: the men taking orders get arrested at home, and the man giving them stays abroad.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “thief in law” mean?
“Thief in law” (in Georgian, kanonieri qurdi) is a criminal title tracing back to Soviet prison culture, where inducted members swore off ordinary jobs and cooperation with police in exchange for authority to arbitrate disputes inside the underworld. The status is not self-declared; it is conferred by other titleholders, which is part of why Georgian prosecutors treat holding it as evidence of organized criminal activity on its own.
Is claiming to be a “thief in law” illegal in Georgia even without other crimes?
Yes. Under Article 223¹ of the Criminal Code, adopted in 2006, membership in the thieves’ underworld and the status of thief in law are crimes by themselves, separate from whatever other offenses, extortion, assault or weapons charges, prosecutors can also prove.
Has Georgia’s anti-mafia law survived legal challenges?
Yes. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in July 2014 that Georgia’s legislation against thieves in law did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights, rejecting arguments that the status-based charges were too vague to meet legal standards.
How many people has Georgia arrested over organized crime links in 2026?
The Interior Ministry says 343 people have been arrested and charged since January 1, 2026, including eight alleged thieves in law, a pace that works out to close to 50 people a month.
Who is Mamuka Chkhaberidze?
He is one of eight alleged thieves in law charged in Georgia so far in 2026, and the only one named in the July 28 case. Investigators say he directed the 33 defendants’ activity, including the “thieves’ meetings” and payment demands, entirely from outside Georgia.
