Dark Side
Bulgaria acts to Smash Mafia's EU network
By Harry de Quetteville, Telegraph 06/05/2008
May 7, 2008 - 1:33:58 PM

Sergey Stanishev, the prime minister, and Mihail Mikov, his new interior minister, formed the unit amid allegations of ties between the Bulgarian authorities and organised crime. Recent investigations by the European Union, the US justice department and within Bulgaria, showed that the country's crime gangs had a key role in European trafficking of everything from sex slaves to antiquities.

The reports underlined that Bulgaria's mafia was thriving aided by the interior ministry officials who were meant to be hunting them.

"Leaking information from the secret services to organised crime groups has constantly prevented efficient operations against them. Criminals are bring warned ahead of time," said Mincho Spasov, the head of the Bulgarian parliament's home affairs committee, which issued a damning report into official corruption in the country's drugs trade.

The European Commission is threatening to cut billions of pounds in funding unless Bulgarian authorities sever links to organised crime.

"It's endemic in the whole system," said a senior EU official yesterday. "One hundred and fifty contract killings pass without a single prosecution. Our serious fraud people say that every time they go to Sofia [the Bulgarian capital] everything is immediately leaked to organised crime."

The mafia in Bulgaria was central in people smuggling, prostitution and antiques trafficking in Europe, and drug smuggling money was used to fund Bulgarian political parties, he added.

According to a report by the Centre for the Study of Democracy in Sofia, Bulgaria's accession to the EU at the beginning of last year provided "access to West-European countries [and] created exceptional expansion opportunities for the Bulgarian criminal networks.

Organisations that track the flow of drugs into Western Europe describe Bulgaria as a major route for narcotics heading for Britain.

"Bulgaria is a serious transit country," said Vladilen Litnovskiy, of Bumad, which advises eastern European governments in the fight against drug smuggling. "They have maritime transit routes through the Black Sea, and then it proceeds overland to the West," he said.

Rumen Petkov, Mr Mikov's predecessor, was forced to resign over accusations of corruption at the interior ministry. He admitted meeting suspected crime bosses after traffickers were recorded referring to him using the code name "Cigarette Lighter".

Mr Mikov said: "The interior ministry must regain people's trust."