16 arrested for money laundering and smuggling in Sliven

On May 20, 16 people were arrested and at least six charged with money laundering and smuggling of particularly large amounts. The operation of the anti-mafia and the prosecutor's office was conducted in Sliven and at "Kapitan Andreevo" border crossing. Large amounts of money and gold jewellery were found in sacks. Participants in the scheme were also receiving funds as low-income earners.

The group came into the focus of the authorities about three months ago. Under the guise of exporting workers to pick strawberries in the UK, SANS agents and anti-mafia agents from the general directorate for combating organised crime found that those registered as low-income earners were travelling to the Island, but not to work in the greenhouses. It turns out that in concealments in vans, they were carrying huge quantities of cigarettes, which they were selling at three times higher price.

"In the course of pre-trial proceedings, numerous searches of residential and non-residential premises, as well as motor vehicles, in the territory of Sliven district were carried out, during which belongings and objects were seized which are considered to be directly related to the subject of the investigation," said Veselin Gangalov, Sliven district prosecutor.

Some of the travellers were going back home by plane, others by minibuses. In both cases, they physically brought back the profits from the sale of cigarettes. Some of the money was declared as income from work in the UK. Another part of the money went into pawnbrokers as working capital and was then declared as profit. Large sums of money in various currencies and 7 kg of gold jewellery stuffed in plastic bags were found in the properties of some of those arrested.

"At this stage, it can be assumed that the seized cash and valuables, in terms of value, are around and above one million BGN," Veselin Gangalov said.

Another activity of the group was the smuggling of industrial goods from Turkey, declaring goods with low customs value and presenting false invoices at Kaptain Andreevo customs checkpoint . Among those arrested is the leader of the group, who has a previous criminal record.