Bulgarian Customs Head Exposed as Communist Security Agent

The Director of the Bulgarian Customs Agency, Gen. Vanyo Tanov, had been an agent of the former Communist State Security under the alias Gergov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Files Commission, a special panel investigating the Communist regime secret files, announces Tuesday that 63 high-ranking employees of the Customs Agency have been agents or collaborators of the former Communist State Security (DS).

The information was published on the Commission's official internet site.

907 individuals have been checked. Data for people who worked at the Agency between November 10, 1989 and May 5, 1991, had been unavailable.

The most "popular" name among the 63 is the one of the current Director of the Customs Agency, Gen. Vanyo Tanov. He had been recruited by DS in 1978 and worked under the alias Gergov. Tanov reported to the DS Regional Directorate of the so-called 6th Department (known at the time as the "political police") in the Danube city of Ruse.

Another known name is the one of Ivan Kutevski, former spokesperson of the Customs. He had been listed under the alias Antonio in 1986.

A former high-ranking Customs employee also exposed as a DS agent is the ex Director of the Customs in the southern city of Blagoevgrad, Ivan Ilchov, who was fired from the post in 2008. He had been recruited in 1987 under the alias Miro.

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