A total of ten people, including five Bulgarians, have been arrested in California in a police operation aimed at uncovering a transnational drug trafficking ring.

Over 217 kg of dried marijuana and over USD 200 000 in cash were seized during Wednesday's drug bust, Times Standard reported.

The arrests were carried out near Bridgeville, the place of residence of Thomas William Morgan, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bulgaria also known as Taco Nikolov Budnakov.

After a search of Morgan's property, police officers seized around 86 kg of dried marijuana, processed seeds, a handgun and almost USD 40 000 in cash.

Six people were also arrested at the property, all on suspicion of cultivating marijuana: Clare Campbell, 54, of Crescent City; Sergey Markov, 27, a Bulgarian citizen; Mihail Stoev, 31, a Bulgarian citizen; Svetlana Blajeva, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bulgaria; Lulita Tsygankova, 23, a Ukrainian citizen; and Lulita Dimov, 30, a Bulgarian citizen.

Wickham said Markov, Stoev, Tsygankova and Dimov were all in the United States on student visas to attend the Center for Cultural Exchange, but they went missing at various points within the last few years.

The US Immigration Services have been notified about the arrests.

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