TBILISI. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia has decided to launch an anti-criminal operation in a province that, according to the Interior Ministry, has shown a skyrocketing increase in serious crime.
Senior Interior Ministry staff approved the plans for the operation at a meeting in Gori, the ministry's press service told Interfax.
Before the meeting, Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili told reporters that the police of the Shida Kartli province, the site of the operation, have received extra weapons and other additional resources.
The press service said that Shida Kartli had been the scene of 87 serious crimes, such as murders, robberies and car thefts, this year. Last year, the region registered just 21 serious crimes.
Shida Kartli includes South Ossetia, a separatist region that runs itself as an independent state. However, an Interior Ministry source said that South Ossetia refused to join in the operation and that the operation would be limited to Georgian-controlled territory.