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Bulgaria becomes transit point for international organized crime

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  • Bulgaria becomes transit point for international organized crime

    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.
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