British banker kidnapped in Georgia

Peter Shaw, a 59-year-old British businessman and General Director of Georgia's Agro Business Bank, has been kidnapped from the centre of Tbilisi.

According to Georgian Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili, the banker was kidnapped Tuesday evening while driving his car across the center of the city. Three armed people in police uniform stopped his car, dragged him out and were forcing him into their own car when a police patrol appeared. At the same moment, the kidnappers were joined by four armed accomplices, who initiated an armed clash. Eventually, the kidnappers disappeared along with their victim.

The incident was reported to the Georgian interior ministry, which immediately sealed off all roads leading out of the city. So far however, the search has been fruitless.

The interior minister assured journalists that everything was being done to find and liberate Shaw. According to his words, the law enforcing authorities have mobilized police forces not only in Tbilisi but throughout the whole country.