Bulgaria becomes transit point for international organized crime, officials
warn
AP Worldstream
Mar 02, 2005
NEVYANA HADJIYSKA
Bulgaria is a main transit point for international criminal gangs
targeting Western Europe, local and British experts warned Wednesday,
calling for greater international efforts to combat organized crime.
“Bulgaria is a key European ally in fighting organized crime _ it’s
geographic situation makes it an increasingly attractive gate to
foreign investment … but also to other, less welcome enterprise,”
said British Home Office Minister Caroline Flint at a Sofia forum on
combatting organized crime.
Bulgaria’s top police official, Gen. Boiko Borisov acknowledged that
the Balkan country is turning into a center of organized crime, and
called for assistance from all European institutions.
“Unfortunately, Bulgaria is located on such a place that we have
Albanian, Serbian, Chechen, Armenian, Georgian, Russian, Moldovan,
Ukrainian, and whatever mafia groups you can imagine,” Borisov said.
Officials said Bulgarian authorities were making progress in reining
in organized criminal activity, including by adopting key legislation
for confiscation of criminal assets and by implementing a number of
projects aimed at curbing corruption.
“Bulgarian legislation on assets recovery is a very, very important
step forward … and your task now is to implement it vigorously,”
Flint said.
“Along with police efforts, (Bulgaria) needs effective work by the
prosecution and the judiciary,” said William Hughes, director-general
of Britain’s new Serious Organized Crime Agency. The agency is to
begin work officially in April 2006.
In December, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini
insisted that Romania and Bulgaria take tougher measures against
corruption and organized crime as they prepare to join the EU in 2007.
In Sofia, Hughes also called for a “global strategic alliance against
organized crime,” urging countries to grant more powers to foreign
anti-crime liaison officers and to remove legal barriers before
international intelligence exchange.
Bulgarian and British officials were unable to produce exact figures
on the number of organized criminal gangs operating through Bulgaria,
or on the damage for local and European economies.
Hughes, however, said that in Britain alone, harm caused by organized
criminal activity was estimated at Aâ=82¬13 billion (US$17 billion)
annually.