Bulgaria’s top anti-drug cop arrested for taking cartel bribes
Bulgaria’s top anti-drug cop is arrested for taking bribes from international smuggling cartels to let them operate
- Head of Bulgaria’s anti-drug trafficking unit was arrested for accepting bribes
- He has been detained along with two other high-ranking drug officers
- Took bribes from local and international drug rings in exchange for protection
Published: 08:55 EDT, 26 June 2020 | Updated: 10:14 EDT, 26 June 2020
Bulgarian police have arrested the head of the anti-drug trafficking unit and two other officers for taking bribes from smuggling cartels.
The men – dubbed the highest ranking anti-drug officers in Bulgaria – took bribes from both local and international drug trafficking rings in exchange for protection.
They were also the main points of contact between Bulgaria’s own anti-drug operation and its international partners in the EU and abroad.
Bulgarian police have arrested the head of the anti-drug trafficking unit and two other officers for taking bribes from smuggling cartels (stock image)
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, is a central part of the so-called ‘Balkan route’ (pictured), which has long served as the main path for smuggling drugs from Asia into Western Europe
Chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev told reporters: ‘The men are suspected of opening an umbrella above the activity of organized crime groups engaged in trafficking of narcotics in Bulgaria and abroad.’
He acknowledged that it was disturbing that these men ‘are the highest ranking anti-drug officers in Bulgaria and the main contact persons with our international partners, not only in the EU.’
Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, is a central part of the so-called ‘Balkan route’, which has long served as the main path for smuggling drugs from Asia into Western Europe.
The men – dubbed the highest ranking anti-drug officers in Bulgaria – took bribes from both local and international drug trafficking rings in exchange for protection (stock image)
Heroin, morphine and opium from Afghanistan travel along the Balkan route via Iran.
The route provides drugs to countries including Greece, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Britain.
The money made by trafficking drugs accounts for a large part of Bulgaria’s economy, making up between two and three per cent of the country’s GDP, the UN report.
