International heroin trafficking network has been disrupted

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от БНТ

13:13, 02.02.2021

The Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (CDCOC) and the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, with the participation of officials and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), disrupted international organized crime group for heroin trafficking. The starting point was the Republic of Turkey, transited through Bulgaria, through different countries of Western Europe and the final delivery point was the USA, the head of the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office, Valentina Madzharova, told a briefing on February 2.

"Investigations have been carried out into the implementation of a request for legal assistance from the United States, which automatically, according to the Bulgarian law, means that pre-trial proceedings have been initiated for heroin trafficking. The US law enforcement agencies were extremely active in the detection of this internationally organized crime group, namely the representatives of DEA.They have established a full-fledged partnership with the Bulgarian law enforcement agencies, namely the CDCOC, " she added.

Six people were detained - three Bulgarians, two Serbs and one person with dual citizenship. 20 kg of heroin have been seized, said Valentina Madzharova, specifying that this is an approximate amount.

The alleged organizer and leader of the crime group is one of the detained Serbian citizens, said the director of the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, Lyubomir Yanev.

"What is new is that transactions were carried out between various criminal entities on the territory of the country. They subsequently tried to export the drugs to the territory of Western Europe and subsequently to the United States. So far, we have not had such a channel that deals directly with the transportation of heroin to the United States," he explained.

The authorities have information that the seized heroin is part of a large shipment. "This 20 kg of heroin is just one of the deals that have been made so far, more specifically the preparation for the deals that were to take place in the country. The seized 20 kg of heroin was valued at 260,000 euros," Yanev explained.

We have no information on how it was exported, but we have information on how it was imported, Yanev said and added that it was through lorries across land borders.

The director of the CDCOC also said that some of the detainees were known to the services. He explained that the person identified as the organizer of the criminal scheme was shot and wounded in Bulgaria in 2007. One of the main versions on which the authorities worked at that time was that the assassination attempt was related to drug trafficking.