site.btaUPDATED Two Foreign Ministry Employees Brought as Defendants in Course of Investigation in Pre-Trial Proceedings

The General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC) with the Ministry of Interior is investigating two Foreign Ministry employees as part of pre-trial proceedings under Article 321, paragraph 6 of the Criminal Code, the Foreign Ministry told BTA Tuesday. The said article of the Criminal Code concerns organized crime groups. 

The Ministry responded to a query regarding media reports that officials of the ministry had been detained. 

According to the bTV, two Foreign Ministry employees were detailed as they tried to cross the Bulgarian border with Serbia carrying thousands of boxes of contraband cigarettes. They were using a Foreign Ministry minibus. 

The case is being handled by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. 

Art. 321, paragraph 6 of the Criminal Code states that whoever conspires with one or more persons to commit in the country or abroad crimes for which the punishment is imprisonment for more than three years and through which it is intended to obtain a material benefit or to exert unlawful influence on the activities of a public authority or local self-government, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to six years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is conducting an internal departmental inquiry into the case. The ministry said that at the moment procedural and investigative actions are being carried out by the State Prosecutor's Office and could not give more details.

Commenting the matter in Istanbul on Tuesday, Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov said that it was not a regular channel but a one-off contraband case. He also said that the law-enforcing authorities were tipped off about contraband activity in late 2024 and the information was confirmed on January 6, 2025, when the two Ministry employees were detained.

The two men were initially remanded for 24 hours and were later released on bail. It transpired from Ilkov's remarks that one man was a driver and the other held an unspecified job at the Ministry.

The Minister also said that they had not been on the law-enforcers' radar for long but only for 10-15 days prior to their arrest. He said that this case should not be used to smear the image of the Foreign Ministry "because a lot of quality people work there".