2024-09-28 05:00:35
Two men were arrested during a police operation and charged by the Ruse District Prosecutor’s Office for thefts and arson in the region. This was announced by the district prosecutor of Ruse Irena Kostadinova at a briefing in which Svetoslav Velikov – deputy district prosecutor of Ruse, Venislava Yoncheva – supervising prosecutor in the case, Commissioner Angel Papalezov – head of the “Criminal Police” department at the Main Directorate of the “National Police” took part. , and senior commissioner Plamen Parvanov – director of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ruse.
The two men – a 39-year-old man with the initials S.R., and the two years older man with the initials A.S., were arrested during an action on September 18 of this year. They tried to rob a bank branch in the village of Tsenovo, but the building’s alarm went off. After that, they stole a car with which they fled. They set fire to the car in the land of the village of Sturmen, writes BTA.
Venislava Yoncheva – supervising prosecutor in the case, explained that after that the two fled in another vehicle. “The accused were detained during their attempt to escape and hide – one in the land of the village of Kozar Belene, Pleven region, and the other in the land of the town of Letnitsa, Lovech region,” said prosecutor Yoncheva.
During their arrest, a firearm was also found in one of them.
The two have been charged with three charges, the most serious of which the law provides for up to 15 years in prison. The district court in Byala left them permanently in custody. The two have appealed their detention measures and their examination by the Ruse District Court is pending.
Numerous and different actions were carried out in the investigation – witnesses were questioned, searches and seizures were conducted, as well as inspections of places and things, numerous expertises were assigned, some of which have already been prepared. Evidence of complicity of other persons in the criminal acts is collected in the case, as well as evidence of crimes committed by the two defendants in other settlements in the country.
Prosecutor Irena Kostadinova explained that the two have criminal records and have already been convicted of theft and robbery. “We assume that it is an organized criminal group, as we are actively collecting evidence. There is information that they have committed numerous criminal acts on the territory and in other settlements in Bulgaria – thefts and robberies, and in many cases they carried weapons.” , the district prosecutor of Ruse also said. She explained that it is impressive how highly organized their criminal activity is and how much effort they put into concealment and erasure of traces.
Rousseau Police Director Senior Commissioner Plamen Parvanov said the two were known to law enforcement. “We are continuing the work on the activities of these persons for committing other criminal acts both on the territory of the Ruse region and on the territory of other regions of the country under the leadership of the Main Directorate of the National Police,” said Parvanov.
Commissioner Angel Papalezov, head of the “Criminal Police” department at the “National Police” General Directorate, said that information about the criminal activity of the two was received in the spring of this year. “They are from the region of Pleven, and they also had accomplices from the region of Lovech. They commit crimes on the territory of the whole of Northern Bulgaria, and at some point they are transferred to Southern Bulgaria – in the regions of Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Sliven,” said the commissioner. He commented that at the moment it is not possible to say how many people are complicit in the crimes of the detainees. “An analysis is being done. We are waiting for many expertises to be ready, including video-technical, biological, of weapons and physical evidence seized from the crime scenes themselves,” said Commissioner Papalezov.
He explained that the regional directorates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Pleven, Lovech, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, Sliven and especially in Ruse assisted in tracking down the two arrested persons. “These persons could be detained at the time of committing a crime on the territory of each of these regional directorates. Officers from these regional directorates went out into the field every night to be ready to arrest the persons in the event of their criminal activity. We were the last to leave two months every night. These are dozens of officers – both operational and investigative police, security staff and especially detention teams, because we knew that these individuals were armed and ready to use firearms at any moment – as against security guards of objects that they have identified as potential targets, as well as to law enforcement officers who would try to detain them or prevent their withdrawal from the objects themselves,” Commissioner Papalezov explained.
He also said that the two defendants have a “very serious criminal history, with a very long stay under investigative arrests and in prison”. “These are extremely brutal criminals who are ready to even take human life, if necessary, in order to remain free,” said Commissioner Papalezov and thanked the regional directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ruse, the District and District Prosecutor’s Offices for their assistance.
“We had very good interactions with them in order to arrive at the arrest of the two accused. In Ruse, once again, they showed incredible professionalism and support for the actions of many regional directorates that were involved. Thanks from the leadership of the main directorate and directly from the minister, because he was previously its director and directly managed the operation,” commented Commissioner Papalezov.