site.btaParliamentary Committee Hears Interior Ministry Employees, and Police Officers In Relation to Cigarette Smuggling Case in Plovdiv

The parliamentary committee on internal security and public order heard representatives of the Ministry of Interior and police officers in relation to the dismantling of excise goods smuggling ring in Plovdiv. At a closed session, which lasted three hours, MPs heard Kalin Litov, former Deputy Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (DGCOC), Daniel Lukov, Director of the Internal Security Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, Stoyan Dimitrov. Director of the Inspectorate Directorate in the Ministry of Interior and police officers Dimitar Panitsa, Valentin Mandradjiev, Ivan Kukov, Ivan Pochileev, Georgi Dimitrov, Tsviatko Gerov, Plamen Gilin and Yordan Runtev from the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime  in Plovdiv.

A brilliant operation carried out by officers of the of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime  was compromized due to weak leadership. This is one of the main conclusions we can draw, the chairman of the committee, Manoil Manev,(GERB-UDG) told journalists after the meeting.

I am convinced that very quickly the court and the prosecutor's office will uncover who issued what orders and who is to blame, the MP said. According to Manev, careless managers start to take care of their own comfort and do not think about "their guys at the operational level".

Since that hearing, suspicions have deepened that there was an umbrella over the smuggling channel in this case, that information was leaked to the criminals and this was covered up afterwards. Inside the Interior Ministry and then, perhaps, by the prosecutor's office, Bozhidar Bozhanov of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said after the hearing. 

He said police officers said that it was not the first time they could conclude that information had been leaked from the Interior Ministry to criminals. Bozhanov thanked the police officers for their great work and added that they acted responsibly, courageously and wisely.

We are going to ask for more information based on today's hearing, Bozhidar Bojanov added.An attempt is being made to cover up this case until it comes out in public, said Ivaylo Mirchev of the CC-DB.

Interior Minister Daniel Mitov was also supposed to be heard at Wednesday's session, but Mirchev explained that he would be heard another time because he had a valid reason for being absent.