Within the framework of the international investigative team created with the support of Eurojust, involving the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and representatives of competent agencies from three countries, a large-scale event was held in Georgia regarding the theft of expensive books from libraries in EU countries.

As part of the joint event, employees of law enforcement agencies from Switzerland, France, and the Republic of Lithuania, along with the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, conducted investigative actions in dozens of locations across Georgia.

More than 100 employees from law enforcement agencies of EU countries and Georgia participated in the large-scale event, which was prepared for several months in collaboration with international partners.

Within the framework of the event, dozens of individuals, their residential apartments, and places of book sales associated with them were searched. A significant amount of cash and hundreds of books were seized, including a 19th-century French-language book allegedly stolen from the National Library of Paris during a search of the residence of one of the arrested persons.

At this stage, four members of the organized crime group have been arrested.

The investigation of the case has established that since the beginning of 2022, citizens of Georgia formed an organized criminal group with the intention of covertly obtaining expensive books by various 19th-century authors for further sale throughout Europe.

To accomplish this, the members of the organized group used fake identity cards, fictitious names and surnames, and pre-made counterfeit book samples to replace the original ones.

According to the pre-planned criminal scheme, the members of the organized group were to take books by 19th-century classic writers to national and university libraries in France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland, Poland, and the Czech Republic. They would secretly acquire these books and then replace them with high-quality copies of the originals.

In accordance with the aforementioned criminal scheme, the members of the organized group secretly obtained books worth hundreds of thousands of euros from libraries in various European cities during 2022-23.

The detainees were charged with subsections “A” and “B” of Article 177, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (large-scale theft committed by an organized group), which is punishable by 6 to 10 years in prison.

The prosecutor"s office will apply to the court for the use of imprisonment as a deterrent measure within the period established by law.

The investigation of the case continues in active cooperation with the competent agencies of the countries involved in the international investigation group to expose and identify other individuals involved in the activities of the organized criminal group.

We would like to express our gratitude to the employees of the countries involved in the international investigation team, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for their highly professional and successful efforts. Additionally, we extend our thanks to the representatives of Eurojust and Europol for their assistance during the joint event.

The fight against transnational crime is of paramount importance to the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, and we reiterate our readiness for effective international cooperation in this regard in the future.