Georgian national Mindia Goradze, alleged leader of a gang of thieves, was captured in the northern Turkish province of Trabzon yesterday. Goradze had an international arrest warrant issued for him after a Georgian court sentenced him to 12 years in prison in June according to media reports.

Security forces monitoring him nabbed the 36-year-old gang leader at a checkpoint in the Black Sea province that lies some 430 kilometers west of the Georgian border. Police found an unlicensed pistol and a large cache of munitions in Goradze's car.

Goradze, also known as "Lavasoglu of Batum" (a Georgian city bordering Turkey) has a long history of crime, from the murder of a police officer in Georgia to a string of thefts by his gang, Turkish media reported. He was detained in Moldova in 2015 and was extradited to Georgia. He was released pending trial in 2017. Turkish police will hand over Goradze to Interpol after completion of legal proceedings.