British landmines charity staff robbed of £60,000

Two members of a British based humanitarian group that removes land mines were robbed of more than £60,000 (€87,000) in the former Soviet republic of Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia province.

The Halo Trust staff were in a car in the region when masked people stopped them and forced them to drive to another location, where they were robbed, said David Frederick, the organisation’s desk officer for the Caucasus region, speaking from its headquarters in Scotland.

Mr Frederick said Halo Trust was working with authorities to find the thieves and prosecute them.

He would not comment on the amount of money that was taken, which police in Abkhazia said was 95,000 US dollars (€87,000).

Abkhazian separatists won control over the Black Sea shore province after driving Georgian government forces out in a 1992-93 war. The separatist government is not recognised internationally.