Two cells of Bulgarian organized criminals, who allegedly defrauded Las Vegas and Phoenix area car dealers out of USD 1.6 M and stole at least USD 700,000 from bank ATMs, have been arrested by federal authorities in Las Vegas.

Eleven people were charged in three separate indictments unsealed last week in federal court after a two-year FBI investigation that involved the use of court-approved wiretaps, reported Las Vegas Review-Journal.

FBI had obtained information from authorities in Bulgaria that one of the alleged ringleaders, 58-year-old Dimitar Dimitrov, was an associate of organized crime figures in that country.

Dimitrov, a U.S. citizen who lives in Las Vegas, was charged in all three indictments, including one that accuses him and his wife, Viarka Dimitrova, of unlawfully obtaining a 9 mm pistol during the criminal investigation.

Another indictment charges Dimitrov and five other men with conspiracy, wire fraud and transportation of stolen property in a scheme to unlawfully acquire vehicles from car dealers and ship them coast to coast and to Eastern Europe.

The others named in the indictment are Dragomir Taskov, Boyan Gueorguiev, Rossen Daskalov, Yuliyan Milushe and Nikolay Mladenov.

In another indictment, Dimitrov and four other men are charged with trafficking in counterfeit access devices and aggravated identity theft in a scheme in spring 2009 to steal bank account numbers and PIN numbers from customers.

The four others named in the indictment are Angel Iordanov, Danail Tchanev, Brian Johnson and Stefan Georgiev.

In recent years, authorities in the United States have seen a rise in this kind of "skimming" scheme, particularly from organized crime groups out of Eastern Europe.