Bulgarian Anti-Mafia Unit Head Dismissed Temporarily

The Bulgarian police's anti-organized crime unit head, Stanimir Florov, has been temporarily released from duties pending the outcome of the investigation against him.

The order has been signed by caretaker Interior Minister, Petya Parvanova, the Ministry's press office informed Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, Florov was charged with large-scale bribery by the country's prosecuting authority.

The charges came in the aftermath of reports that the Prosecutor's Office and a number of media have received leaked copies of what is claimed to be classified police documents implicating Florov in facilitating drug trafficking.

The alleged documents have been identified as records of police investigations on Florov's suspected activities facilitating international drug trafficking in Bulgaria in the late 1990s and the 2000s.

In particular, the documents mentioned that Florov had been paid to provide cover up for Middle East drug dealers and for the illegal drug manufacturing in the so-called "Opitsvet" affair in 1997.

Currently Head of the Bulgarian police's Chief Directorate for Fight against Organized Crime (GDBOP), at the time Stanimir Florov was an officer in the unit's predecessors.

Valentin Trifonov will be temporarily in charge of GDBOP.