Federal authorities nab 11 as part of Europe-wide raids on Spain-based criminal group

Update 16:02  Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss officials say they arrested 11 members of an Eastern European criminal group Monday. Several European governments Monday made simultaneous announcements about arrests in their countries of Georgian and Russian leaders who are members of a European-wide crime ring. The group has been based in Spain, where 24 people were arrested with a well-organized hierarchy: each country has a boss and regional managers. In all, 69 arrests have been made throughout Europe.

The Swiss public prosecutor has been leading the investigation into the group in this country since April 2009. The raids early Monday involved 120 federal and cantonal police as well as border guards. It netted some of the ringleaders, “dealing a serious blow to Georgian organized crime in Europe,” Bern announced in a press release.

The group specializes in theft, breaking and entering robberies, and receiving and passing on stolen goods, according to officials. They collected money which was deposited into a central fund called Obschak, with each level of the group having responsibility for contributing a share to the fund.

Spain has worked closely with Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland to crush the group at a European level in order to stop its operations.

Police have warned citizens several times in recent months in the Lake Geneva region that Georgian crime groups were operating.

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