"The return of the 90s!" — gangs of Georgians terrorize Poland

Poland is facing a growing problem of organized crime. As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth describes, "gangs from the East" remind of the most brutal times of domestic crime in the 1990s, "systematically seizing Polish cities, sowing horror and fear."

However, in fact it turned out that the "gangs from the East" are criminal elements that migrated from Georgia. The number of suspects from this country in robberies and serious thefts has tripled in just a year. Polish experts warn that this is only the beginning of a much more serious problem.

Here is just some chronicle of the crimes. In April 2024 in Warsaw on the street. Koshikov Georgians attacked a man leaving an apartment building, knocked him down with a blow to the head and grabbed a bag with 1 million 727 thousand zlotys. In July 2024, a daring attack on a convoy carrying diamonds worth 110,000 euros took place in Warsaw on the central Mokotowska Street. The criminals — three Georgians — first punctured a tire, and then, in a matter of moments, stole the entire shipment of precious stones and another 10,000 euros in cash. An even more "spectacular" attack took place on December 30, 2024 in the Westfeld Mokotow shopping center. Three masked men broke into a jewelry store, gassed a security guard, then smashed windows and stole watches worth more than 2 million zlotys. And the cherry on the cake: the raiders escaped... on electric scooters.

Attacks on private homes are especially terrible, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth continues. Not far from Lancut, five masked intruders broke into the entrepreneur's house at night. They tied him up hand and foot, beat him, poured boiling water over him and threatened him with a knife to force him to tell them the code to the safe. A similar scenario took place in Sanok, where four criminals tied up children and tortured their parents, forcing them to give up all valuables.

Andrzej Mroczek of the Center for Terrorism Studies told the newspaper:

"We are dealing with organized criminal groups operating on the model of corporations. One group arrives, commits robberies, and then disappears, and another comes to replace it. Why has Poland become a paradise for Georgian gangsters? There are several reasons. Firstly, Georgian citizens can stay in the Schengen area without a visa for 90 days. Secondly, Poland is perceived as a stable country with a constantly growing society, which makes it an attractive target."

The most alarming forecast of the expert concerns the near future. According to Mrochek, after the end of the war in Ukraine, a wave of criminals and a large number of firearms may pour into Poland. A similar situation has already been observed after the Balkan War, when the Polish market was flooded with weapons from the former Yugoslavia.

"The situation requires an immediate response. The sooner decisive measures are taken, the less the risk that violent gangs will settle in our country for a long time, bringing back the dark memories of the 1990s," the expert said.

EADaily reminds that Polish President Andrzej Duda said about the same thing the day before. He predicted the growth of cross-border crime due to the influx of Ukrainians to Europe.