A special task team from the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) has apprehended Friday morning the alleged crime boss Zlatomir Ivanov aka Zlatko Baretata ("The Barret"), Bulgarian information agencies report.

On Wednesday, the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office issued a call for a state-wide search for Ivanov. The search was called after Baretata failed to appear at the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office by 2 pm Wednesday as mandated by a summon issued earlier in the day.

The authorities have been trying to track down Baretata and several of his closest associates to interrogate them about their alleged link to three murders for hire and two attempted murders. They are also face charges for establishing and heading an organized crime group, distribution, trade, and dealing of illegal drugs.

Sofia Police staged Wednesday morning a special operation in order to detain Zlatomir Ivanov. They raided his offices and his house in the Sofia "Dragalevtsi" suburb.

In a special interview for the Darik radio Tuesday, one of the alleged top drug dealers in Bulgaria's capital Sofia in the recent years, Dimitar Vuchev aka Dembi, stated that Baretata was the most important Bulgarian Drug Lord as well as the mastermind behind several of the country's emblematic execution style underworld killings.

The first murder Baretata is linked to the one of Georgi Natsev, European Boxing Champion and former bodyguard of Dembi. Natsev was killed on June 12, 2005 by a bomb placed in a car driven by several of Dembi's bodyguards.

The second murder for hire, allegedly masterminded by Baretata, is the one of the notorious Drug Lord Nikola Ivanov Bobura (The Beaver), who was shot by nine bullets in the chest and head on October 8, 2006 . The shooting happened on front of the bar "Amazing" in Sofia's district "Gotse Delchev", following two previous, unsuccessful attempts on The Beaver's life in 2004 and 2005.

Baretata is also going to be charged with the attempted murder of Dembi, perpetrated in the morning of December 6, 2006 in front of the "Skyline" bar in the Sofia "Simeonovo" suburb,

Baretata is further linked with the murder attempt on the life of Anton Miltenov aka Klyuna (The Beak), committed on June 28, 2002. The Beak was shot by an unknown sharpshooter in his house on the Sofia "Kniyzhevo" suburb.

The other attempted murder Baretata is, reportedly, going to be charged with, is the shooting against Radoslav Velkov - Temeruta (The Unfriendly) on December 6, 2006. The Unfriendly was shot in the head upon leaving the Sixth Police Precinct in Sofia where he had been with his lawyer to be interrogated about the attempted murder of Dembi, earlier that same day.

For years, the murder attempt on the life of the Unfriendly, along with several others, had been attributed to Dembi.

Thursday, the Sofia City Prosecutor subpoenaed Baretata, who was asked to appear at the Prosecutor's Office by 11 am on Friday. Baretata's wife had signed the subpoena

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