At around 11:00 local time (10:00 Moscow time) in the western Georgian city of Kutaisi (the second largest city in the country), an unknown criminal wearing a mask and military camouflage, armed with a gun, broke into at the venue The branch of the country’s largest bank, the Bank of Georgia (BoG), took 30 visitors to the branch hostage and demanded $ 2 million as a ransom.An hour later, the invader released two elderly women .
The branch is surrounded by the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the latest information, the robber threatens to blow himself up along with the hostages if the money is not brought to him by 3:30 pm, by attacking the bombs on the walls of the branch from inside.
BoG has been attacked multiple times over the past few years. The best known of these was the taking of hostages at the Zugdidi branch of a bank near the border with Abkhazia on 21 October 2020. Then a former Georgian army soldier, Badri Esebua, took dozens of hostages, after lengthy negotiations. he received a $ 500,000 ransom from the authorities, drove off with three hostages and the local police chief, released them soon, and disappeared into the forest along with a large sack of money. The offender has not yet been arrested.
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