The large-scale police operation, during which eight people were detained late last night, continues today. Some of the people arrested were detained in the vicinity of Trakia highway in the outskirts of the city. The Interior Ministry has declined any more details for the moment.

The house searches and interrogations connected with the police operation will continue through the day. The raid was launched a little after 10.30 PM last night, as the BNR's Horizont channel reported first. Interior Ministry sources say that this is an operation by the Combating Organized Crime General Directorate against an organized criminal group. The operation also involved the special counter-terrorism unit and the COBRA squad of the Sofia Directorate of the Interior Ministry.  Masked, heavily armed police were in evidence in several different locations in the capital city.

The criminal group which has been under surveillance for at least one month is connected with serious crimes such as drug trafficking, fraud and robbery. The crime for which the eight suspects were detained last night is not connected with drug trafficking, the Interior Ministry says. The group is not connected with the abduction of 25-year old Adrian Zlatkov either, two independent sources have stated. Adrian Zlatkov was kidnapped at the end of August and later released.

Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Mladen Marinov confirmed such an operation was being conducted but declined any more details. According to unofficial information there are several people, connected with the criminal group who are still at large and that is probably the reason why the Interior Ministry is refusing any details.