Large-scale police operation targeting illegal storage and treatment of waste

A large-scale operation against the illegal storage and treatment of waste is carried out by the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office in the city Pleven and the region on January 2.

According to BNT sources, investigators have established illegal waste storage sites that do not have the required permits.

They are believed to be the property of a company the illegal warehouses caused fire to one of the bridges on Struma motorway near Dupnitsa.

The operation is possible to be related to the waste of the Calabrian mafia identified in Italy.

The subject of the investigation is the company "Phoenix", which manages the landfill where the waste was found in Pleven. According to the rules, the waste had to be treated within one year, but this did not happen. Investigators doubt the company has the capacity to process such waste at all.

There is also doubt that some of the documents that allowed this to happen are fake. The subject of the investigation is also a check of the activities of the Regional Directorate for Environment and Water.

Vanya Savova, district prosecutor in Pleven: The waste deposited at the place we know is mostly imported from Italy, but not the waste that was loaded onto the train. This wastearrived by sea. We have reason to believe that some officials have failed to fulfill their responsibilities with regard to the control functions of the relevant Regional Directorate for Environment and Water.

9,000 tonnes of waste imported from Italy have been discovered in Pleven.

The investigation goes along several lines. It is possible and it is being checked that this waste was related to the Ndrageta scandal in Italy and the detentions there. Possible links between people in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian who was detained in Italy are also being examined. There are reports that the company "Phoenix" is also connected by ownership with the company which waste caught fire under Struma motorway and damaged one of the bridges on the motorway. The exact manner in which this waste was brought from Italy into Bulgaria is also being investigated.