The civil association BOETS has distributed photos of chats that it claims are between part of the leadership of the Directorate of the Bulgarian Anti-Smuggling Bureau and field officers in Plovdiv. The signal says that on November 19, 2024, the police tried to check a heavy truck after suspicion of cigarette smuggling, but they were ordered to immediately withdraw, Nova TV reported.
Criminalist Ivan Savov believes that the Interior Minister is trying to solve the problems in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but it is working piecemeal. "Since I have been in the system - since 2003, there have always been similar incidents. In a crowded system, such as the police, there will always be a breach. It's about trading in influence - you buy an employee in a key position and he starts working for you. Usually, smugglers and drug dealers do it. There will always be breaches in the system, because such people will always have an interest in "buying" a mole. These are not isolated cases only for Bulgaria. In order for this influence not to increase, the entire system must purposefully and constantly carry out internal actions to clean up such elements," he noted.
Interior Minister Daniel Mitov announced that the police chiefs who tried to stop the operation against smuggled cigarettes were removed more than a month ago. In addition, the director of the Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Anti-Smuggling has been ordered to take the necessary actions against the deputy director of the directorate. And "We Continue the Change" announced that they will demand Mitov's resignation.
Ivan Savov specified that there is also a concept called controlled delivery. "In this case, a vehicle known to be carrying out illegal activities was deliberately allowed across the border in order to be tracked inside the country. The goal is to see where the specific vehicle will go in order to catch the buyer of the goods in bulk. Theoretically, it is permissible for this to be the case in this case as well. We cannot guess. Orders are not given on chat applications, so for me it is absolutely impossible to initiate an inspection based on conversations there. Based on what was reported by BOEC, there is no way to take action. If people are sanctioned in this way, it will not hold up in court at all", commented the criminalist.
The former director of the NSBOP and BORKOR, Gen. Rumen Milanov, in turn, pointed out that one should not mix guesses with facts. "Things should be checked from all sides before proceeding with the dismissals. The BOEC has taken out chats that they probably received from participants in the smuggling prevention operation. In this case, checks were carried out by the "Internal Security" department of the Ministry of Interior, as well as by the inspectorate, and then reports were prepared. There are two approaches - if we have data on a channel, an investigation is initiated. If it concerns urgent operational-search actions, information is obtained about a specific means of transport and action is taken immediately. However, if in the case of the BOEC, the truck was the subject of an investigation, there should have been an action plan. Orders in the Ministry of Interior are given only through the duty unit, because everything is recorded there," explained General Milanov.
A NOVA team visited the warehouse for smuggled goods, which is mentioned in the chats taken out by the BOEC. According to information from November 2024, the Directorate for the Prevention of Smuggling and the Prosecutor's Office seized smuggled cigarettes near Plovdiv for a total of 10 million leva. The dismantling of the scheme also led to a chase with the GDBOP officers from the village of Skutare to Plovdiv. Five men were arrested, including two foreigners, and another was declared wanted. The depot where the illegal cigarettes were produced was also broken into. Nearly 6 million illegal cigarettes were found in a warehouse in Skutare.
The anti-mafia officers attacked the site at a time when a truck was being loaded with illegal cigarettes. Two Bulgarians, a Slovak driver and a Ukrainian tried to escape on dirt roads when they noticed GDBOP officers. After a chase, they were captured. Two days later, at the entrance to the village of Tsaratsovo, a large quantity of smuggled cigarettes was discovered, hidden behind bales of straw. As of November, there was no answer to the question of whether they were produced in Bulgaria or imported from abroad and intended for sale. The charge they were charged with is possession and trade in excise goods without a tax stamp. The Deputy Director of the Directorate of the Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Bureau, Senior Commissioner Kalin Litov, boasted at the time that the operation was very successful and stated that "the police acted on hot leads". And according to him, the cigarettes were hidden with lawnmowers.
According to information from Nova TV, the Slovak driver was released 2 days ago and left the country. He received a suspended sentence of 3 years with a probationary period of 5 years.