4 Bulgarian Customs Officials Charged with Bribery Remain in Custody

The Specialized Criminal Court has remanded in custody four of the five customs officials charged with participating in an organized crime group involved in bribe-taking at the Lesovo border crossing point.

The Court released one defendant, Dimitar Shopov, on Wednesday, without imposing any remand measure.

The ones who remain in custody are Dimitar Kolev, director of the Lesovo border crossing point, who is believed to be the mastermind of the organized crime ring, Georgi Banev, Chavdar Dyulgerov, and Yuriy Kuznetsov, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Three witnesses have so far testified to the existence of the crime group and five drivers of TIR trucks have also said that the customs officials regularly asked them to pay bribes in exchange for evading inspections.

The prosecuting authority has pressed charges against a total of seven customs officials in the case.

The customs officials are said to have charged cars a bribe of BGN 10-20 and TIR trucks USD 100-200 in exchange for evading inspections.

On November 13, the Specialized Appellate Court is to hold a sitting on the remand measures in the case.

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