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Two men from Varna - I.M., 45 years old, and N.I., 39 years old - have been charged with criminal responsibility for stealing a Mercedes car from the Balchik village of Kranevo on December 14, the director of The regional directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Dobrich, senior commissioner Tsvetan Pirovski, and the spokesperson of the District Prosecutor's Office, prosecutor Daniel Iliev, reported BTA.

The accused were detained on the morning of December 17, for a period of up to 72 hours, during a specialized police operation of the Main Directorate "National Police" and the regional directorates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Burgas, Varna, Dobrich and Shumen.

Today, the District Court in Dobrich granted the prosecution's request to impose a remand measure "detention in custody" against them.

Two days after the theft - on December 16, an organization was created for round-the-clock monitoring, as a result of which it was established that a motor vehicle (MPV) with marks similar to those of the stolen vehicle was moving along the "Hemus" highway in the direction of Sofia.

About a kilometer in front of him, another car is moving - a "pilot", whose driver - I.M., must warn of the presence of police posts and other possible dangers, Senior Commissioner Pirovski explained. 

The stolen motor vehicle, driven by N.I., was detained in the area of ​​the "Vitinya" tunnel.

His original license plates were found in the trunk, which had been replaced with Ukrainian ones.

"There was information about the individuals that they are particularly aggressive and in any case they will not stop if they are in an open area - they could run away on dirt roads.

The only way was to detain them in the tunnels before Sofia," said the director of the ODMVR - Dobrich.

After the detention of the stolen car, I.M.

tries to escape with the "pilot", but after a chase of about a kilometer and a half, he is also captured while trying to throw away a GPS jamming device.

Devices for unlocking cars and starting engines, as well as other devices, were found at the addresses occupied by the two in Varna.

One of them made a full confession.

Work is pending to prove their involvement in two other criminal acts from recent weeks – an attempted theft in Balchik and a theft in Dobrich, targeting motor vehicles of the same brand.

The police in Varna broke up two gangs of car thugs

According to Senior Commissioner Pirovski, there is information that the accused committed car thefts in the Burgas and Shumen regions and have been engaged in this for a long time.

"There are data that, in addition to the two perpetrators we have charged, there are also other persons involved.

We are working on the version even for an organized criminal group that deals precisely with the theft of expensive, luxury motor vehicles," added prosecutor Iliev.

The cars are transported to Sofia, where they are disassembled and sold in parts.

"The scheme is pretty well worked out," commented the prosecutor.

I.M.

is known to the authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as in 2017 he was sentenced to six years and seven months of "imprisonment" for the same act.

The rulings of the Dobrich District Court are subject to appeal before the District Court in the city.

car theft

organized crime group

car thieves

Dobrich