They have uncovered an organized crime group for possession, concealment and international drug trafficking. There are people detained and charges have been filed. The special operation was carried out jointly by the District Prosecutor's Office - Plovdiv, the National Anti-Terrorism Service and the Directorate for the Prevention of Drug Trafficking.
"The operation began after a signal from the National Anti-Terrorism Service, jointly with the Directorate for the Prevention of Drug Trafficking. Thanks to the general efforts, numerous actions were carried out in a series of days on investigations, seizures and searches. Several people have been brought as defendants, and a narcotic substance has also been seized. We have data that the group has been operating for a year and a half. The leader of the criminal group is involved in real estate and car trading, lives in Plovdiv, and has no criminal record," Plovdiv District Prosecutor Vanya Hristeva announced, quoted by Nova TV.
Supervising prosecutor Slavena Kostova explained that the State Anti-Corruption Agency (DANS) had submitted information that an organized crime group was operating, created to commit crimes related to international drug trafficking on a large scale. "The leader provided cocaine and marijuana from EU countries - Spain and the Netherlands. After that, the participants in the group were engaged in transporting the goods to Bulgaria. In our country, they were stored and hidden, and then transported to Turkey by specially hired drivers. The drugs were smuggled through specially designated caches. Over 25 searches and seizures were carried out. The leader of the organized crime group and 4 other individuals were detained. They have been charged. One of them is on bail, and the other four are in custody. Yesterday, another member of the group was arrested in Sofia. About 10 kg of marijuana were found in his car. He is also facing charges," Kostova revealed.
According to her, what is characteristic of the group is that the participants are from 26 to 62 years old - only men. "They communicated with high levels of secrecy and mobility, as well as mainly in private. This necessitated numerous search operations," the prosecutor added.
Tsvetin Todorov from the National Security Agency specified that the initial signal was received in the middle of last year. "All methods under the law were planned and implemented. After acquiring sufficiently specific information, the Plovdiv District Prosecutor's Office was notified. After the assessment of the supervising prosecutors, actions were taken to disrupt the criminal activity for several days," he noted.
The Deputy Director of the Directorate for the Prevention of Drug Trafficking, Senior Commissioner Emil Borisov, thanked his colleagues for their dedication to working on the case for days. "We detained a total of 10 individuals with a police warrant in 24 hours, six of them were charged by the District Prosecutor's Office after collecting suitable evidence. They are known for their involvement in international heroin trafficking in the past. We believe that the group is also responsible for drug trafficking detained in other parts of the country. Perhaps the seized quantities are about 90 kg of marijuana, cocaine was not seized," he informed.