Georgian criminal boss arrested in Tirana with fake passport of Ukraine

Mindia Lavasogli, a Georgian criminal boss, was arrested in Tirana with a fake passport of a Ukrainian citizen and is being prepared for extradition to Georgia, the  Albanian police confirmed on Tuesday. 

They saidLavasogli was arrested on Monday and is accused of leading a criminal group engaged in unlawful activities in Georgia and other countries.

The Georgian authorities announced an international search for Lavasogli, same as  Mindia Goradze, several years ago. He was charged with membership of the criminal underworld in 2018 in Georgia, but was released before imprisonment as the law enforcement officers were unable to provide evidence backing the charge.

Then he moved to Turkey and was arrested in the country at the end of 2018, being held in extradition custody until June 20, 2020 for an unknown reason.

Permanent protests had been held in Batumi since June 1, 2020, demanding the release of Lavasogli from the extradition detention, with15 people on hunger strike at that time. 

On June 20, 2020, he was released from extradition detention in Turkey and moved to Belarus, but was later arrested at Odessa airport.