Police Raid Streets of Tbilisi

(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, July 24, 2002) – With the order of Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili police launched wide scaled raids in the central streets of Georgian capital late in the evening on July 23.

The police armed with automatic guns are checking each suspicious car and person. The law enforcers do not reveal the exact reason of the wide scale raids. Koba Narchemashvili told the reporters today that the police raid is caused with the increased cases of violation of traffic rules by the drivers in Tbilisi.

Though State Security Ministry spokesman Nika Laliashvili told the Civil Georgia today that the raid might be caused with the illegal smuggling. “I can not say more at the moment,” the security official said.

The law enforcers say that some of the criminal suspects have already been detained during the raid. Interior Ministry reports that two of them are the policemen suspected in drug addicting.

According to Interior Minister it is not excluded that the raid is also connected to the recent criminal acts committed against the foreigners. On July 23 Chief of Tbilisi Police Department said that the case of abducted British citizen Peter Shaw would be investigated in the nearest days. The law enforcer high officials make this kind of statements almost every day after the British banker was kidnapped on June 18.

International pressure increases on Georgian authorities, as they are incapable of taking measures to prevent abductions, religious intolerance, and violence against NGOs. At the meeting with Georgian State Minister Avtandil Jorbenadze and Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili, German Ambassador Uwe Schramm referred specifically to the still unsolved murder last December of a German diplomat serving with the EU mission in Tbilisi and the disappearance two weeks ago of businessman Klaus Droege. The EU official has twice met Georgian President concerning the abduction case of Peter Shaw.