site.btaUkrainian Passport Holder Arrested for Espionage at Maritsa East 2 TPP, Prosecutor Says

A 23-year-old man holding a Ukrainian identity document was detained inside the Maritsa East 2 Thermoelectric Power Plant on Tuesday, Sofia Deputy City Prosecutor Hristo Krastev told journalists on Wednesday.

Krastev explained that the man was constituted as an accused party for gathering information constituting a state secret for the purpose of passing it to a foreign power.

The man is held for 24 hours and the court will be approached shortly to order his detention in custody as a precautionary measure to secure his appearance.

A search of the person's residence has yielded drones, mobile phones, cameras, and a number of SIM cards and memory cards. 

The Deputy City Prosecutor added that expert examinations are being carried out so as to find whether the man took pictures at the TPP and, if so, whether the pictures contain any information constituting a state secret.

He said that there is no threat to security. Also, he ruled out involvement of an insider as an accomplice and said the law-enforcers have no information about that.

Krastev recalled that Maritsa East 2 is listed as a strategic installation in a Council of Ministers decree.