Crime Correspondent: Bulgaria

Dimitar Zheliazkov aka "The Eyes",

A court in the Black Sea city of Burgas convicted Dimitar Zheliazkov and 11 members of his gang after they pleaded guilty to charges of founding an organised armed group for drug trafficking, a court spokeswoman said. Bulgaria's most notorious crime bosses, nicknamed "The Eyes", has been jailed for for drug trafficking. "For the first time such a key figure from the Bulgarian criminal world has been convicted. This has not happened so far," prosecutor Svetlozar Kostov said on national radio. Last week, Zheliazkov, 32, and the other 11 men reached an out-of-court agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to the charges. The 11 were jailed for one to five years. Zheliazkov was sentenced to 4-½ years. Commentators criticised prosecutors for not seeking the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Zheliazkov had been arrested several times before but prosecutors could not build a successful case against him. The European Union, which Bulgaria joined in 2007, and the United States have repeatedly urged Sofia to end a climate of impunity and demonstrate the political will to fight crime. The Balkan country has failed to jail a single criminal for any of 151 gangland killings since 2000. Crime groups' profits from trade in drugs, stolen cars and trafficking of women are estimated at up to €2.2 billion ($3.66 billion) a year, a report by an independent Bulgarian anti-graft organisation showed last month. The report by the Centre for the Study of Democracy said organised crime groups were "buying" politicians, magistrates and civil servants to legalise businesses and extend control over lucrative markets.

Dimitar Zheliazkov aka "The Eyes",

A court in the Black Sea city of Burgas convicted Dimitar Zheliazkov and 11 members of his gang after they pleaded guilty to charges of foun...

Budimir Kujović

Plovdiv Appelative Court has prolonged the arrest of Serbian Budimir Kujović on January 9. The court maintained the earlier ruling of arrest...

Budimir Kujovic appeals

Budimir Kujovic appeals Thursday before the Bulgarian court of appeal in the city of Plovdiv against his arrest. The trial will be closed fo...

Budimir Kujovich

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDC2IkOQG7r-D7XEjsgiZ27wYObG_5LybbkUtksUxA0dYERfkdqtFa8yoOAVEwY5IYgrkwYiXrRDcB2YSqDQ96EBjRv78wCS-WX1nmh_VqjVctr9BTt01NWs8lkSK8AXT-tYLKaIvimA/s1600-h/89225.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153596264760929314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDC2IkOQG7r-D7XEjsgiZ27wYObG_5LybbkUtksUxA0dYERfkdqtFa8yoOAVEwY5IYgrkwYiXrRDcB2YSqDQ96EBjRv78wCS-WX1nmh_VqjVctr9BTt01NWs8lkSK8AXT-tYLKaIvimA/s320/89225.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> Budimir Kujovich, has been issued a Bulgarian passport despite being banned to enter the country. "It is absolutely abnormal to issue a Bulgarian passport to a Serbian national, whom we claim to be a drug-trafficking boss," senior prosecutor Boris Velchev fumed on Wednesday in his first comment on the controversy. "This way Bulgaria granted free access to Kujovich to the whole European Union," Velchev added. Kujovich was issued a Bulgarian passport as part of a secret police operation, in which four tons of heroin were supposed to be seized in Bulgaria on their way towards Western Europe. Interior Ministry Secretary General Ilia Iliev, who allowed issuing the passport, submitted his resignation at the end of November after months of waiting in vain for the heroin to cross the border. Iliev then explained that he quits because he was tricked into signing a document, which breaches the regulations of the Interior Ministry. A month later, Bulgarian customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border check point with Turkey seized 60 kilograms of heroin and police arrested Kujovic as the alleged boss of the traffickers. After the arrest, Iliev finally revealed details about the operation and the tons of heroin, saying that the breaking of a channel for drug smuggling was after all successful. After the scandal with the fake passport was unveiled, Interior Minister Rumen Petkov announced the case will be thoroughly checked and those officials who overstepped the law will be sanctioned. Deputy director of the police in the town of Razgrad, Todor Dimov was dismissed for exceeding his rights in relation to the case. Claims that he was just a scapegoat in the scandal appeared in the media.. Kujovich was imposed a 10-year ban to enter Bulgaria in 2005 after being accused of running

Budimir Kujovich

Budimir Kujovich, has been issued a Bulgarian passport despite being banned to enter the country. "It is absolutely abnormal to issue a...

seized 47 kilos of heroin in Bulgaria

Police seized 47 kilos of heroin at the Bulgaria - Macedonia border from the car of a Turkish national. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova Bulgarian ...

Stara Zagora

Bulgarian police arrested four people and seized 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of heroin found hidden in a car at a border crossing, authorities...

Budimir Kujović

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1meA0mhDSpw9T_Nv6iSTCm6eGGrU4wGwiCwV3IP2fvF9EMXaFzahg8lHS7R-9DD2JmFi-zPmi8y63xjqTPa-W-hjSsUNWfnh_UDkBwxIdK79EqW0WtRO0bgrRU46Ll1ifN8lBiE8HyY/s1600-h/20071231_heroin_mvr.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150408402594883746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1meA0mhDSpw9T_Nv6iSTCm6eGGrU4wGwiCwV3IP2fvF9EMXaFzahg8lHS7R-9DD2JmFi-zPmi8y63xjqTPa-W-hjSsUNWfnh_UDkBwxIdK79EqW0WtRO0bgrRU46Ll1ifN8lBiE8HyY/s320/20071231_heroin_mvr.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> The leader of the gang, Serbian citizen Budimir Kujović, considered a major drug trafficker in the Balkans. He was said to have been involved in several drug laboratories and trafficking rings arrested in Bulgaria aged 39, was detained on December 30 in Plovdiv. He resisted arrest and a policeman was injured in the fight. custom officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, found 59.35kg of high quality heroin in the floor of a vehicle stopped for a check, an Interior Ministry media statement said.During an operation on December 29 and 30 2007, police in Bulgaria arrested a drug trafficking ring from Turkey through Bulgaria to former Yugoslavia and Western Europe.Stara Zagora deputy regional prosecutor Dicho Atanasov said the gang had been neutralised and its members were detained. The group included three Bulgarians, aged between 41 and 53. One of the Bulgarians was a former custom officer, who provided unimpeded border crossing of the deliveries.Police seized various identity documents from the arrested.

Budimir Kujović

The leader of the gang, Serbian citizen Budimir Kujović, considered a major drug trafficker in the Balkans. He was said to have been involve...

Budimir Kuyovitch

Serbian drug boss Budimir Kujovic was transported under closed guard to the building of the District Police Directorate in the town of Stara Zagora. Kujovic is under the escort of six heavily armed police officers. Bulgarian customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border check point with Turkey seized 60 kilograms of heroin on Sunday. During a special operation officials found 116 packages of the drug, hidden in a secret compartment in the floor of a car, driven by a 41-year-old Bulgarian national. The other three passengers, among them a 30-year-old woman and a customs official, were all arrested together with the driver. According to the police, the customs officer, traveling in the car, was taking care of the unimpeded border crossing of the traffickers. Serbian national Budimir Kuyovitch, who is the alleged boss of the group, was also arrested in the southeastern town of Stara Zagora. Experts said that the heroin was supposed to reach Western Europe.

Budimir Kuyovitch

Serbian drug boss Budimir Kujovic was transported under closed guard to the building of the District Police Directorate in the town of Stara...

Bulgarian customs officers

Bulgarian customs officers and police and Portuguese police arrested two Bulgarian cocaine smugglers at Lisbon airport during a joint operation. Portuguese police detained a 38-year-old man who organised the international drug-smuggling ring from Latin America to Western Europe, and a 30-year-old drug dealer, an Interior Ministry press release said. The dealer traveled from Brazil to Portugal. He had swallowed 1.2 kg of capsuled cocaine. Drug dealers who swallow capsules to smuggle the drug, usually intake from 0.6 to 0.8 kg of narcotic substance, the press release said. Bulgarian and Portuguese authorities worked nearly four months to reveal the smuggling ring. The arrest of the two Bulgarians was the last of a series of related arrests. Bulgarian police detained two men, who had swallowed 1.2 kg of cocaine, at Sofia airport in November 2006. Other two Bulgarian traffickers were arrested at Lisbon airport a week later, on December 8 2006. The total quantity of cocaine seized from the related operations is 4,4 kg. The drug could have been sold for more than 180 000 euro on European markets.

Bulgarian customs officers

Bulgarian customs officers and police and Portuguese police arrested two Bulgarian cocaine smugglers at Lisbon airport during a joint operat...