site.btaUPDATED Interior Ministry Secretary General: We Managed to Neutralize Organized Crime Group Dealing with Dual-Use Technology

Interior Ministry Secretary General Zhivko Kotsev, Deputy Prosecutor General Maria Pavlova, State Agency for National Security (SANS) President Plamen Tonchev, and Plovdiv District Prosecutor Vanya Hristeva gave details of a joint investigation, the Interior Ministry said here on Tuesday.

“In close cooperation with the SANS, the District Prosecution Office of Plovdiv, and the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office, the Interior Ministry managed to locate and neutralize an organized criminal group that trades in dual-use technologies - military goods with no permit and licensing activity. Data show that these goods have been traded and exported to Ukraine for military purposes. Twelve participants in the criminal scheme have been detained. Five of them were foreign nationals: three Russians, an Albanian, and a Belarussian,” Kotsev said.

The investigation was carried out in the cities of Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Veliko Tarnovo. Numerous items of evidence were seized.

As of now, it has been established that one of the group’s organizers has registered a commercial company in Plovdiv which purchased various dual-use goods worth some BGN 4 Mln including optical sights, ballistic meters, and aviation radios. The goods were stored in a residential property, repackaged and prepared for export to the Russian Federation via Sofia airport.

The operation was conducted in coordination with several partner services.