The eight police officers who participated in the operation against cigarette smuggling in the Plovdiv region in the fall of last year were heard at a closed session of the parliamentary committee on internal security and public order.
This was reported by BNT.
They told the deputies how the operation was planned and carried out, as well as what orders they received from their superiors during its implementation.
After the session, due to investigative secrecy, it was not clear who told them to stop working and withdraw.
"A brilliant operation carried out by the operatives of the Directorate of the Anti-Civil War Crimes Unit - Plovdiv was tainted due to weak leadership. This is one of the main conclusions we can draw. The other important conclusion - the new leadership of the Ministry of Interior in the person of Mr. Mitov does not give any reason for concern about the careers of these guys. What started and was exploited in the media space", said Manoil Manev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on internal security and public order.
"In this hearing, doubts deepened that in this case there was an umbrella over a smuggling channel, that information was leaked to the criminals and this was covered up, including afterwards. The prosecutor's office should indeed investigate, but we should not calm down and deceive ourselves with versions that this is just a matter of bad organization," added Bozhidar Bozanov, a member of the parliamentary committee on internal security and public order.
"I am convinced that very quickly both the prosecutor's office and the court will deal with making it clear who issued what orders, how they issued them and who is to blame for this", also commented Manoil Manev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on internal security and public order.
"The short version of what happened is that some 8 police officers did their job. After they finished their job, instead of someone trying to understand how the criminals found out that they were being monitored - after only three people, besides these eight, know this. Instead of the services trying to reach these conclusions, they start harassing the police officers with disciplinary measures," said Ivaylo Mirchev from PP-DB.
Interior Minister Daniel Mitov will be heard additionally because the committee meeting was delayed and he had to travel to Brussels.