Specialized Police Operation 'Shock 2' underway in Bulgaria, Italy

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced the launch of "Shock 2" on Monday. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgarian and Italian police forces and Europol have launched a special operation codenamed "Shock 2" to detain persons under European Arrest Warrants (EAW).

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, as cited by the Focus news agency, announced Monday that the police operation was taking place on the territory of Sofia, Stara Zagora, Dobrich, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Veliko Tarnovo, and in Italy.

"35 people have so far been detained on Bulgarian and Italian territory. The operation and the investigative activities continue," Tsvetanov declared, without going into details.

The first special police operation under the code name of "Shock" was carried out in 2011 against a large international ring of credit card fraudsters.

Operation Shock was conducted in the small hours of July 6, 2011 in the cities of Sofia, Kyustendil, Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Gabrovo, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Varna and Burgas, and abroad in close cooperation with Europol and the US Secret Service at the request of Italian authorities.

As part of the operation, 46-year-old Klenovski, who had an EAW issued against him by Italian authorities on suspicions of participating in a crime ring practicing ATM scams, was arrested on January 27 in a shopping mall in downtown Sofia.

His wife complained of police brutality during the arrest but the CCTV footage indicated no use of excessive force.

On March 7, Klenovski was extradited to Italy pursuant to a decision of the Sofia City Court.

One month later, he was released by an Italian court and returned to Bulgaria.

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