{"id":39395,"date":"2018-04-17T18:37:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T15:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg?p=39395"},"modified":"2018-04-21T17:32:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T15:32:04","slug":"busted-bulgarian-gangsters-from-vratsa-are-part-of-international-crime-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/busted-bulgarian-gangsters-from-vratsa-are-part-of-international-crime-network.html","title":{"rendered":"Busted Bulgarian Gangsters from Vratsa Are Part of International Crime Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several protagonists in a series of Bivol investigations into an organized crime group (OCG) in Bulgaria\u2019s northwestern city of Vratsa were arrested on April 17, 2018 in an operation of the gendarmerie and the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (GDBOP). The brothers Anri and Mancho Kovachevi<\/strong>, Nikola \u201cThe Gypsy\u201d Georgiev<\/strong>, as well as two of their \u201crunners-up\u201d – Deyan \u201cDuhasta\u201d Ivanov<\/strong> and Parvan \u201cThe Bunker\u201d Slavchev<\/strong> were detained for 72 hours and are to be interrogated in the capital Sofia, Bivol has learned. An international arrest warrant has been issued for Galin Zahariev<\/strong> from the same group.<\/p>\n

The operation took place more than six months after Bivol’s first revelations<\/a> about the participation of the Kovachevi brothers in a cocaine traffic channel from South America to Europe. In addition to drug trafficking, the group’s “repertoire” has included arson, beatings, murder plots, property fraud, usury, car theft, and construction equipment theft.<\/p>\n

All this happened with the protection of local policemen who had provided a cover-up. In a scandalous video<\/a>, first published by Bivol, Anri, Mancho, Galin, Nikola and Parvan are seen hugging former policeman Tsvetan Blagoev and his colleague Tsvetan Gotsov.<\/p>\n

The men from Vratsa, however, are part of a larger criminal network that has well-established international logistics. They are also associated with pro-Russian Serb and Bulgarian ultranationalists, new facts from Bivol’s ongoing investigation into the group reveal.<\/p>\n

Elderly retiree – target of gangsters <\/strong><\/p>\n

The investigation began after the accidental detention at the Zurich airport of a 67-year-old Bulgarian woman arriving from Sao Paolo with 700 grams of extremely pure cocaine. The woman, named Tsvetanka Evstatieva<\/strong>, told the Swiss police that she had been sent to Brazil by the brothers Mancho and Anri Kovachevi<\/strong> from Vratsa. The information had been handed over to the Bulgarian authorities, but they ignored it until Bivol published the confession of Tsvetanka<\/a>, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

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Tsvetanka Evstatieva<\/p><\/div>\n

Immediately after the publication<\/a>, her grandson, Iliyan, was brutally beaten<\/a> and had to leave the country because the Bulgarian law enforcement authorities failed to provide protection for him.<\/p>\n

Milko Atanassov Stoyanov<\/strong> had also been part of this group and had been used by the thugs as a straw man in schemes for car and construction equipment theft. Stoyanov is a direct witness to the conversations and plotting of Anri and Mancho Kovachevi, Galin Zahariev and Nikola Georgiev, as well as their subordinate gangsters. But he has decided to break with their organization. In November last year, Milko Stoyanov sought Bivol for an interview, after reporting to the GDBOP and the Prosecutor General.<\/p>\n

In front of our camera, Stoyanov recalled with details the wet orders discussed in his presence. Bivol already published some of his statements<\/a> in which he reveals theft schemes, the plan to kill the Zov<\/em> News<\/em> publisher, Dr. Ezekiev,<\/a> an arson order and the protection provided by the Vratsa police.<\/p>\n

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