Three Bulgarian citizens suspected of spying on behalf of the Russian Federation have been arrested by UK counter-espionage police, a report states.
Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31 are all said to have been arrested on February 8th by the Metropolitan Police’s counter-espionage officers, the BBC claims, revealing the raid for the first time. Held under Britain’s powerful counter-spying laws, the trio have been in custody since.
Charged under the Official Secrets Act, the Bulgarian citizens are accused of holding 19 identity documents under “improper” intentions, including passports and other cards and papers from a wide variety of European states including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Czechia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Greece.
The Times reports the group also had fake press cards and branded clothing from media organisations Discovery and National Geographic, which were used as cover for surveillance. Police allegedly discovered equipment to forge documents were discovered in a searched address.
Two others were also arrested but apparently not charged. The BBC reports the three identified have been in the United Kingdom for several years, and that Dzhambazov and Ivanova were thought by neighbors in Harrow to be a couple.
The arrests come amid a wave of expulsions by European states of Russian diplomats accused of exceeding their legal rights to use their diplomatic position to spy on behalf of Moscow. Poland, Moldova, Sweden, and Norway are among those who have arrested or expelled suspected spies recently.