Angel Mavrovski, the 39-year-old veterinarian and former director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, revealed the criminal schemes at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing, writes the German public media ARD. The publication recalls that it all started in 2011, when GERB came to power.
„At that time, the border was leased to a private company. Everything was extremely opaque. The company received a ten-year contract, which was extended until 2031," Mavrovski, who also has the relevant documents, told ARD.
Razmig Chakaryan, considered a key figure in organized crime in Bulgaria, also signed on behalf of the private company, the German public media writes.
You close your eyes and collect the money
Thus, border control ends up in the hands of organized crime - it determines which trucks to check and which not. And the trend from then on is a minimum of control, but a maximum of payment for it, Georgi Vassilev, a pepper trader and forwarder, told ARD.
„Importers from all over the EU reported that their trucks with food products from Turkey or Syria arrived in the EU with sealed cargo sectors - with Turkish seals. I myself have collected 30 Turkish seals from my trucks."
The trader explains that he had to pay between 350 and 700 euros per truck, and each time he received documents that the cargo had been controlled at the Bulgarian border for dangerous bacteria and organisms, for heavy metals, for pesticides.
“Nothing like this has happened. The documents are fake. Approximately one third of my trucks crossed the border without control - on the principle: pay - seal, pay - seal", describes the situation Vassilev.
Threats against the state controller
2,000 trucks enter Bulgaria through Kapitan Andreevo every day. This means that the controllers can collect one million euros per day, i.e. it is a very profitable business, ARD points out.
At the end of 2021, the business was briefly threatened - when Prime Minister Kiril Petkov came to power with his anti-corruption party “We continue the change”. The new government also appointed new people to the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), whose deputy director was Angel Mavrovski. His task: to nationalize food control and clean up the “Augean stables”. However, he is threatened: “The car in which my team and I were traveling was pushed off the highway. "I was threatened on the phone, and I found threatening notes on my car," the informant told ARD.
Change of governments and changes at the border
Kiril Petkov's cabinet fell after only eight months and Mavrovski lost his job as a food inspector. Thus, the mafia once again has a say at the border, writes the German public media.
Years later, in December 2025, Mavrovski returned to work - now as director of the BFSA, appointed by the caretaker government of Andrey Gyurov. Inspections were immediately carried out at the border and in the interior of the country, and record amounts of harmful food were seized.
In just two months, the new BFSA leadership stopped over 500 tons of food and 1.3 million eggs. In addition, it prepared a long list of loopholes and loopholes for manipulations in border control. But this ultimately turned out to be useless, the German publication points out.
A promise and its implementation
A new government led by Prime Minister Rumen Radev has been in power in Bulgaria for a month and a half now. He promised to fight corruption in Bulgaria, but after his cabinet came to power, Mavrovski was fired again quite quickly.
The Minister of Agriculture was Plamen Abrovski, a long-time MP who held various positions in the Ministry of Agriculture. He was responsible for food control at the time of the manipulations, recalls ARD and adds that with his former party “There is such a people” he torpedoed the coalition with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
"Much more expertise"
Now Abrovski claims that the Bulgarian state guarantees the security of consumers in the EU. But then why was Mavrovski fired? Why does the cooperation with the controversial private border controllers remain? The Minister of Agriculture says that it was "completely normal" for a new team to come with a new government. The new director had "much more expertise and experience". Now the BFSA is responsible for the laboratory on the border. But the Minister refuses to accept the request for a permanent presence of EU controllers on the border. "This would be an admission that Bulgaria cannot protect its borders alone."
The pepper trader Vassilev says that everything at the border is the same as it has been for the last 15 years. It seems that the new government is trying to prevent fundamental changes. And apparently, quite a few high-ranking politicians are still profiting from business along the border.
Author: Oliver Zoss (ARD)