The Bulgarian police have busted six men, including a former senior customs officer, who are believed to have stolen the 320 kg of gold that recently went missing from a Customs Agency warehouse.

On October 18, the robbers managed to steal more than 320 kg of gold which the Bulgarian police captured in August 2010 in one of its much advertised special operations. A total of 320 kg of gold, 20 kg of silver, and 1 kg of platinum were stolen from a storage facility of the Bulgarian Customs Agency located at Terminal 1 of the Sofia International Airport.

Subsequently, the investigation showed that the security system of the warehouse had been turned off the night before, which led the investigators to believe that "an inside person" facilitated the theft.

The six men arrested Wednesday morning were busted in Sofia and in Samokov in a special police operation codenamed "The Combinators".

The most important suspect is named "Georgi the General"; he is a long-time customs officer working in the Sofia customs until 2009 when he was laid off.

The other suspects also have colorful nicknames - "Sasho the Bandit", "Slavcho the Zeiss", "Petar Boniforti" and "Vaso the Jaw" - but they also have sizable criminal records. A sixth man without a criminal record and a nickname has also been arrested.

The police have captured gold jewels and technical equipment from the eight places they searched in Sofia and Samokov. There are no reports of the police finding any of the stolen gold bullions.

The news about the special police operation has been confirmed by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Sofia Deputy Prosecutor Roman Vasilev has praised the operation because of the high level of cooperation between the police and the city prosecutor's office.