The civil movement BOEC accuses heads of the GDBOP in Plovdiv of protecting a cigarette smuggling channel. This is about an operation on November 19, 2024, BNR specified.
According to BOEC, the employees undertook surveillance and notified their management. Instead of support, they received an order to withdraw from the site. Despite the order, the field team decided to continue with the operation. The result was the seizure of about 3 thousand boxes of smuggled cigarettes. According to BOEC, this is a record amount for Bulgaria, worth over 8 million leva.
During the operation, one of the detainees received a call and managed to warn the others, who unsuccessfully attempted to escape.
BOEC claims that this indicates a leak of information from the leadership of the Ministry of Interior. The organization points to the deputy directors of the General Directorate of the Bulgarian Police, Kalin Litov and Mariyan Mitkov, as responsible, who, according to them, tried to thwart the operation by issuing an order to withdraw.
The organization indicates that signals have been submitted to the Ministry of Interior and the prosecutor's office, but there has been no development in this case at the moment.
BOEC demands public responses from the institutions, resignations and an investigation into this case.