site.btaTax Service, Police to Check Security Firm Employing Drug Lord Zhelyazkov

110 HOME AFFAIRS - ARCUS-SECURITY BOURGAS - CHECK

Tax Service, Police to Check
Security Firm Employing
Drug Lord Zhelyazkov


Sofia, August 10 (BTA) - The Specialized Prosecution Office has assigned the National Revenue Agency and the National Police a check of Arcus-Security Bourgas EOOD and natural and legal persons related to it, the prosecution service said in a press release on Friday.

The check is prompted by a Specialized Prosecution Office investigation of a drug-pushing, beating, extortion and arson ring allegedly led by convicted drug lord Dimiter "Mityo the Eyes" Zhelyazkov, which was busted by law enforcers in Bourgas and the area on August 2. During the crackdown, searches were carried out at more than 30 addresses, including company offices and homes, yielding cash, arms, ammunition and two sets of books recording sums of money to be given to Zhelyazkov.

Arcus Managing Director Ivan Vladimirov said in a bTV interview on Thursday that he had hired Zhelyazkov as a consultant, tasking him with finding properties in need of security protection. Vladimirov said that a procedure for Zhelyazkov's dismissal from the security firm was in progress.

Zhelyazkov was arrested in Istanbul on the night of August 4 and is held in a Turkish jail awaiting extradition.

According to another press release of the prosecuting magistracy, five persons suspected of involvement in an organized crime group for drugs distribution and trafficking were detained in a police operation in Rousse and Varna regions on August 6. Some 20,000 leva and foreign currency, as well as some 700 g of cocaine, were found during the searches. Twenty-eight balloons, each containing 15 g of top-quality cocaine, were surgically removed from the stomach of one of the suspects at a hospital in Rousse. The Specialized Criminal Court ordered one of the detainees in indefinite custody, two were released on bail and two on their own recognizance. RQ/LG
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