Police Chief in Plovdiv Detained on Suspicion for Involvement in Telephone Fraud

The deputy head of third police station in Plovdiv, Stoyan Pavlov, was arrested on 11^th of October on suspicions for involvement in a telephone fraud scheme. The head of police in Bulgaria’s second largest city of Plovdiv confirmed the information, but refused to provide details because of the on-going investigation.

Stoyan Pavlov was detained by officers of internal security department following a series of telephone frauds in Plovdiv and the region in the past 10 days, in which many old people have fallen victims to telephone fraudsters who persuade the unwary to hand over their savings. In some cases, the fraudsters have been successful in conning people out of thousands of levs (BGN).

Six telephone fraudsters have been detained during a recent police operation. Two of them remain in custody.

The arrested police chief worked in the investigation unit for many years. After that he was transferred to the third police station in Plovdiv. In 2012, he worked as a regional police inspector. In this period, the two cars of his family were set on fire. There are many suspicions about links between Pavlov and criminal rings over the years, but they remain unproven.

According to BNT sources, the prosecutor’s office will press charges against Stoyan Pavlov on 12^th of October.