Polish border guards and officers from the Central Bureau of Police Investigation stopped a Georgian national at Warsaw Chopin Airport after receiving information that a man linked to the post-Soviet criminal hierarchy known as the ‘thieves-in-law’ could be arriving on a flight from Greece. He was not admitted to Poland and was sent back to Georgia on the first available flight.
According to Polish services, the man held the status of a so-called vor v zakone, a term traditionally used in the criminal underworld of the former Soviet Union for a senior figure enjoying authority within organised crime structures.
Authorities say he used 39 different identities
Checks carried out after his arrival showed that the Georgian citizen may have used 39 different sets of personal data. Polish officers also found records connected with identities previously used by the man in databases maintained by French and German authorities.
French services had entered information indicating that he should be refused entry and residence in EU member states because of an earlier conviction for an offence punishable by at least one year in prison. German authorities, meanwhile, linked him to participation in an organised criminal group and assessed him as a threat to public security and order.
Ten-year ban from Poland and the Schengen area
The commander of the Warsaw-Okęcie Border Guard post opened administrative proceedings and issued a return decision. The man was also given a 10-year ban on re-entering Poland and other countries in the Schengen area.
Separately, he was charged with making a false statement in connection with the identity information provided to the authorities. The allegation does not amount to a conviction and criminal liability would have to be established in court.
Polish services treat the status as a security concern
The term ‘thief-in-law’ does not itself identify a specific offence committed in Poland, but Polish security services treat people holding such status as potentially significant figures in international organised crime networks. In recent years, Polish law-enforcement agencies have increasingly focused on cross-border criminal structures operating across the European Union and countries of the former Soviet Union.
In this case, the authorities decided that the man’s presence in Poland posed a sufficient risk to public security to justify immediate removal. He left Warsaw for Georgia after the administrative and procedural steps had been completed.
Sources: Central Bureau of Police Investigation, Polish Border Guard, Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Interia.
