Senior Drug Enforcement Officials Arrested after Taking Bribe

The head of the drugs enforcement department in the Chief Directorate for Organized Crime Control (CDOCC) and the head of a drugs enforcement unit, as well as two more officials from the service, were arrested on Thursday evening after taking a bribe.

The news was announced on Friday by Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev and Interior Minister Mladen Marinov who held a special briefing. The operation started on Thursday afternoon. The four were detained as part of an investigation against an organized crime group involved in bribe-taking and aiding criminal groups for drugs trafficking and pushing in Bulgaria and abroad.

Geshev said that the prosecuting magistracy and the Interior Ministry will continue to pursue any case of wrongdoing and crimes, irrespective of the perpetrators.

Marinov described the case as "extremely unpleasant". The Interior Minister said he has ordered an analysis of the work of the CDOCC and in the drugs enforcement unit, which is to be conducted as fast as possible. Marinov said that once the analysis is ready, he and the Prime Minister will make "the correct and informed decision" on changes in the drugs
enforcement unit and its staff "so as to clear the name of the CDOCC and all conscientious officials".

The names of the arrested were not announced. Dnevnik.bg says that according to sources from the CDOCC, two of the detainees are Tsvetan Pankov, head of the drugs enforcement department, and Kiril Vankov, head of a drugs enforcement unit in the department.

Source: Sofia