The good coordination in the work of the Interior Ministry and the chief prosecutor’s office as well as the arrests of underworld criminals are among the best achievements that Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov pointed out at the national meeting of the executive personnel of the Interior Ministry. Such meetings will be held every two months to solve the problems and challenges that the law-enforcing system in the country is facing, Interior Minister Tsvetanov also promised.
The struggle with organized crime and high-level corruption is one of the sectors in which Bulgaria is being strictly monitored by the European Union. From its very first day in office, the new GERB government took up the ambitious task to prove that the country could cope with this problem. Investigations were launched against ex-ministers from the former cabinet of the Three-party coalition between the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the National Movement Simeon Sax-Cobоurg of Gotha, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. In less than a year, the Interior Ministry carried out several important secret operations codenamed “The Insolent”, “Octopus”, and “The Jellyfish”. The first secret operation was targeted at the uncovering of a criminal group involved in kidnappings, and the second operation was targeted at an influential criminal group known to be involved for more than 10 years in various crimes such as money laundering, influence trading, VAT siphoning, etc. During the last operation codenamed “The Jellyfish” held in the Black-sea city of Varna, frauds with public procurement deals were disclosed, which led to profits to local authority officials. What does the statistical data of the Interior Ministry indicate for the past few months?

“Currently, police departments across the country are working on 2,400 suspects, 300 of them being the main group of criminals that we will try to arrest”, Interior Minister Tsvetanov said. “For the period between the end of December and March this year, we have detained 83 persons under guard, 39 persons have been given less severe measures, and 21 persons have been declared for nationwide search. What is worth mentioning is that for this period, we have worked actively on the investigation of 131 organized criminal groups and some 630 persons in particular”.
Interior Minister Tsvetanov also pointed out that the work and the information gathered for the organized criminal groups will be under the control of the ministry. In the Interior Ministry, we have received more than 60 signals for corrupted officials from the judiciary who will be put under investigation. Also, we have started a special unit for guarding our seaside resorts and the highways in connection with the coming summer season when many foreign tourists arrive in Bulgaria. Another priority of the ministry will continue to be the struggle against financial frauds and misappropriation of funds from the Bulgarian state budget and EU budget. For reaching better results in this respect, Bulgaria will continue to work jointly with the European Anti-Fraud Office, Minister Tsvetanov announced. As an example of good results, he gave the secret operation codenamed “The Jellyfish”. Minister Tsvetanov recommends to his colleagues that they should continue their good teamwork that has led to efficient results in the latest police operations.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova