The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office has on Wednesday submitted to the Slivnitsa Regional Court a formal request for the detention in custody of Evgeni Milev, aka Geyzo, a member of the “Crocodile” gang.

Last Saturday, the Interior Ministry had detained a total of 25 persons suspected of a spate of kidnappings in the past two years, in an intensive police operation cod-named “The Impudent”.

Of these, five have remained in police custody - Ivaylo Evtimov, aka Yozhi; Prokopi Prokopiev, aka the Bodybuilder; Anton Petrov, aka the Hamster; Lyubomir Simeonov, aka the Rower’ and Daniel Dimitrov, aka the Relay.

A guard based at the Kalotina checkpoint on the Bulgaria – Serbia border, has also been implicated in the case.

It has been alleged that he fraudulently entered into the police computer records data that suggested Milev had crossed the Bulgarian border. A subsequent check with the Serbian authorities revealed they had no record for Milev.

On Tuesday, in a follow-up operation, “The Impudent 2“, a police officer was shot and injured as one of the gangsters resisted arrest and fired at the special forces. It came to light that one of the men that guarded the kidnap victims was a prisoner placed under a light regime.