The employee of the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate Combating Organized Crime who was arrested provided Russian intelligence services with information from Bulgarian and partner services and agencies. This was confirmed by Angel Kanev, supervising prosecutor of the pre-litigation proceedings at a briefing.

•  Special operation at Bulgaria's anti-organized crime police unit over espionage in favour of Russia

The employee, who has been detained for 72 hours, was under observation for several months. He has worked for the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime since 1993, occupying different positions – in the past year he has worked at the “International cooperation and projects” department where he had access to classified information.

State Agency for National Security (SANS) deputy chair Petar Petrov on his part stated that a SANS employee had been intercepted in contact with the detained employee of the GD Combating Organized Crime, and that steps had been taken to clarify the “character of their communication”.