US, Europol Pile Praise on Bulgarian Top Cop for Nabbing 'World's Biggest High Tech Crime Gang'

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov (R) and US Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick (C). Photo by BGNES

US Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick and a Europol representative have praised Bulgaria's Interior Minister for the special operation in which a massive bank card clone gang was busted.

Warlick expressed his gratitude in Bulgarian, while Italian Ambassador Stefano Benazzo, who is currently in Italy, was represented by his deputy, Francesco de Stefani. Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov himself thanked the foreign police authorities for their assistance and trust during the operation, codenamed "Shock" in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian-masterminded crime ring, which has been described as the world's largest in the sphere of bank card cloning, has been active mostly in Italy, where nine suspects were detained. US police arrested two suspects and two more were apprehended in Spain, while one person was held in Poland. A total of 47 individuals were busted in Bulgaria last week.

The gang has been active since nine years and has accumulated a fortune estimated at over EUR 50 M. Police officers from Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Germany, US intelligence agents and experts from Europol have contributed to the operation, codenamed Night Clone Card.

On Wednesday, Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Michael Rauschenbach, head of Europol's forgery-of-money unit, shared details about the international operation. The gang had 73 members, 50 of whom with a crime record, it was revealed. A total of 500 Bulgarian police officers participated in the operation.

The gang cloned more than 15 000 cards, Rauschenbach said, pointing out that credit card frauds cost the EU more than EUR 1.5 B a year.

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