Nikola Nikolov-Pascal was detained on Friday in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. He was ordered to be arrested for 18 days by a court in Serbia. Now the prosecutor's office has to send documents for his extradition, and then the issue will be decided by the Serbian court and the minister of justice, Nova TV reports.
Pascal has been wanted for months since the raid at customs in April. He is suspected of being a smuggler, but there have been no cases against him over the years. He is accused of participating in a criminal group together with father and son Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi, the former head of customs, Petya Bankova, the former chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zhivko Kotsev, and the former head of the “Border Police” Petar Subev.
Nikolov's lawyer Galya Galabova explained to NOVA that he was undergoing treatment in Serbia. "Mr. Nikolov was detained on Friday afternoon in Serbia, in Belgrade, where he is undergoing treatment and has medical documentation. She will also be presented to the Bulgarian and Serbian investigative authorities. Bulgaria is currently given a deadline to submit documents on the basis of which the extradition request is made. "As far as I know, it's an 18-day period," she said.