The former chief secretary of The Ministry of the Interior, Zhivko Kotsev, introduced the accused Stefan Dimitrov of smuggling to the directors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in the country. This was explained by the chairman of DANS Plamen Tonchev during his hearing in the temporary commission to investigate the corruption practices in the "Customs" Agency. and the possible participation of Asen Vassilev in them. This was announced by the BNR.
Before the deputies, Plamen Tonchev explained that in the middle of 2022, operational information was received by the National Security Agency that an organized criminal group with leaders Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi was operating on the territory of the country, which was engaged in smuggling and legalization of acquired funds in the country's economy. He specified that the Dimitrovs had contacts at high levels in the Ministry of the Interior.
"You have been in contact with Mr. Zhivko Kotsev since his (his) time as director of the Directorate General of the Ministry of the Interior Sofia. They maintain contacts with Ventsislav Petkov Kirchev, then director of the Main Directorate of the National Police. to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at the time of opening the case; directors of regional directorates, Petar Subev - director of the regional directorate "Border Police" - Aerogari, which on November 15, 2023 participated in a conference in the city of Barcelona, Spain, in line with our country's accession to Schengen; Lilia Kirilova Velinova - head of the sector of the Main Directorate "National Police", Ministry of Internal Affairs and others.
It has been established that, as a result of the established trusting relationship with the officials in question, Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi exert influence on personnel issues, the distribution of management positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are of interest to the criminal association.
According to the chairman of DANS, there were also cases in which employees provided sensitive or classified information to Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi, related to channels for the trafficking of goods, people and dangerous substances, and also relied on using the influence of the last two for their career development.
Tonchev also said that there is information about customs officials involved at different levels in the scheme. After the use of special intelligence tools, it became clear that Nikola Nikolov was involved in the smuggling channel – Pascal. Information was obtained about him that he enjoys the protection of former and current persons in the executive power.
According to DANS data, Pascal worked with a Turkish citizen, known as one of the biggest smugglers through the border crossing, "Captain Andreevo".