Bulgaria 'Releases' 'Cocaine King' on House Arrest

Evelin Banev AKA Brendo was arrested in Bulgaria on May 16 2012 on suspicions of cocaine trafficking and money laundering both in Bulgaria and Switzerland. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Court changed Monday the permanent detention of suspected drug lord Evelin Banev aka Brendo to house arrest.

The change will become effective later as the Appellate Court must rule on it as well.

The magistrates grounded their decision on decreased risk Brando will hide.

At the beginning of July, an Italian court sentenced Banev on first instance to twenty years in jail wrapping up the trial against the so-called "Cocaine Kings".

Banev is being held in prison in Milan, Italy, where he was extradited after his arrest in Bulgaria last spring in a special police operation codenamed "Cocaine Kings," and is coming to Bulgaria only for the court sessions of the local trial against him.

Banev has firmly refused to travel to Bulgaria despite the opportunity to see his 10-year-old daughter Lara after she was released by her abductors.

At the beginning of March, Lara was abducted by masked gunmen in the affluent Sofia suburb of Boyana. A 36-year-old bodyguard was shot twice in the back.

According to various reports, the abduction was a warning for him to keep silent in the Milan Court

In Bulgaria, Banev is tried for money laundering in the amount of BGN 21 M.

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