[ad_1]
The Special Prosecutor’s Office presented an accusation in the Specialized Criminal Court against 10 people for participating in an organized criminal group that was engaged in the processing and distribution in the country of tons of cut tobacco, without due authorization and without payment of the special taxes due.
The formation of the criminal association began in January 2017 and lasted several months, given the future large-scale activity. Conceived by the organizer of the EL group The plan envisaged the establishment of three bases for tobacco production in the village of Cherna Voda, Ruse region, in the town of Sliven and in the town of Simitli. There, in rented warehouses located in the vicinity of the settlements, the participants of the group deliver by truck and personal cars bought from the manufacturers bundles of tobacco in quantities that reach 1000-1500 kg. The leaf dough was cut, flavored and packed in plastic bags with labels from popular brands: “Virginia”, “Marlboro”, “Davidoff”, “Karelia” and others. The group’s dealerships most often delivered finished products to end customers in private cars.
The initial financing of the activity, incl. the equipment of the production bases provided by the group organizer. According to his order, all payments for the purchase of raw materials were made through an authorized payment company. In this way, the profit from the illegal activity was accumulated – the amounts collected were transferred to EL’s family members, who in turn distributed the “remuneration” to the participants according to their contribution.
Each of the members had strictly defined functions and a place in the hierarchy. Immediately after, the organizer of the activity stood up, the three responsible for the bases. Couriers, cutters, tasters, packers and distributors of finished tobacco followed.
The work was organized according to customer demand. The distributors sent orders to the respective responsible person on the basis of which the next processing and packaging cycle was organized.
A valuable supplier of tobacco for regular customers turned out to be an employee of the GDNP Gendarmerie Directorate (based in Plovdiv). As a police officer, he avoided thorough inspections of his personal car by colleagues from the Traffic Police. Most of the time he received ready-to-sell tobacco while on duty. He left the packages in his private car parked in front of the office and after finishing the job he took them to the end customers.
Following the neutralization of the group on June 11, 2019, the police officer was not detained. Despite the threat to be revealed, he continued with deliveries until June 15, 2019, when he was stopped on Trakia Highway with a bullet-riddled car.
During the arrest of the group participants on June 11, 2019, tobacco without excise labels was found and seized at two of the production bases, thus the excise duty owed exceeds BGN 81,000.
The Specialized Criminal Court is about to schedule a preliminary hearing on the case.
[ad_2]
