Phone fraudsters group from Gorna Oryahovitsa remains in custody

The Prosecutor's office is expecting the Romanian authorities to finalise the extradition procedure for six Bulgarian nationals detained with the European arrest warrant, involved in the biggest scheme for telephone frauds in Bulgaria.

The other five, who were arrested in Sofia and Gorna Oryahovitsa, remain in custody. According to the court, the detained are at risk to go into hiding and commit new crimes.

In the court room, the five of them asked to leave the detention facility, some for health problems and others to care for their children. According to the defence lawyers, there is not enough evidence to date and it is not clear what's on the recordings of the special surveillance devices. However, according to the court, there is still no explanation for the luxury lifestyle the defendants demonstrated. In the court room it became clear that none of them had a job.

According to the investigators, the group's leader is still in Romania and among the six Bulgarians detained with a European arrest warrant. The people on the top of the fraudulent scheme operated from Romania. The group was headed by Bucharest. Every day, from Romania, hundreds of thousands of calls were made to the victims in Bulgaria. The money was collected from intermediaries in Bulgaria.

The Prosecutor's office said they would do their best to complete the case as soon as possible.