Arrested Bulgarian Border Police Officers Racketeered Foreigners

Crime | January 21, 2011, Friday // 10:50|  views

The 14 detained Bulgarian border police officers have been racketeering foreign travelers at the Danube Bridge. Photo by BGNES

The 14 Bulgarian border police officers working at the Danube Bridge to Romania that were detained on Thursday have been racketeering foreigners, mostly transit travelers outside the EU.

The Bulgarian National Radio reported Friday that some of the border police officers were taking the requested amount in USD and even gave back change if the bill had a higher denomination.

Other officers accepted only EUR and if foreigners had another currency, they were compelled to exchange it in the nearby exchange bureau in EUR.

A third option was implemented when the travelers refused to give bribes. Then, the border police officers searched their vehicles and took cigarettes, alcohol or other products.

Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said Thursday that 10 of the officers have been put under arrest for 72 hours, while four others have been released on a BGN 2,000 bail per person.

“The information was received through many sources. We had our own information and there were also citizens who submitted claims against Bulgarian border police officers working at the Danube Bridge for racketeering. We took an action and implemented the needed measures. The operation took three months,” said Rumen Ganev, Head of Internal Security Directorate at the Interior Ministry.

In his words, the large number of detained was due to the fact that the operation was long and more employees were detected to racketeer.

“I believe that this shows our consistency. We work along the whole Bulgarian border. This is one of the priorities of the Internal Security Directorate,” Ganev said.

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Tags: Border Police, officer, Danube Bridge, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, racketeering, foreigners

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