
Six Bulgarians jailed for spying for Russia
Six Bulgarians have been jailed after being convicted of spying for Russia on an industrial scale.
Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, who led the spy ring from a rundown guesthouse on the east coast of England, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months on Monday.
He had admitted his role along with his second-in-command, Biser Dzhambazov, 44, who was jailed for 10 years and two months and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who was handed five years and three weeks in prison.
Female 'honeytrap' agents Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March of activities which police have said put lives and national security at risk.
Mr Justice Hilliard jailed Ivanova, of Harrow, north-west London, for nine years and eight months, saying she had 'thrown in' her lot with her partner Dzhambazov and become an 'enthusiastic' participant.
Gaberova, of Euston, north London, was jailed for six years, eight months and three weeks, having found spying for Russia to be 'exciting and glamorous', the judge said.
Her ex-boyfriend Ivanchev, of Acton, west London, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Earlier in mitigation for 'naive' beautician Gaberova, Anthony Metzer KC said her case was 'tragic' as she would never have got involved but for her infatuation with Dzhambazov, who had falsely claimed to have cancer and be working for Interpol while retaining his relationship with partner Ivanova.
He told the court: 'We say she was controlled, coerced into this conspiracy by Mr Dzhambazov.
'She fell in love with him and continued on her evidence to have feelings for him, not only on the date of her arrest but continued to have feelings for him even as she gave evidence, even though she was shocked, appalled and manipulated by him.'
In a televised sentencing, Mr Justice Hilliard commended officers for their 'extremely thorough and determined investigative work'.
He noted the defendants were 'motivated by money' and lived 'very comfortably' on the substantial sums they were paid.
Victims targeted by the spyring had been left 'deeply concerned' and been forced to enhance their security, the judge said.
He said the risk to them was obvious and Roussev would have been aware of the 'extreme actions' Russia had taken against those it regarded as an 'enemy' of the state.
Using the UK as a base to plan spy operations against the safety and interests of the nation was a 'very serious offence', Mr Justice Hilliard added.
The court had heard that the spies were directed by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Marsalek acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and Roussev, who led the operation from a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
When police moved to arrest the spies in February 2023, they found Dzhambazov naked in bed with his lover Gaberova in Euston, rather than at home with his partner Ivanova.
Police pieced together six operations dating back to August 2020 from more than 100,000 Telegram messages on Roussev's phone in which he and Marsalek made light of their dangerous plans.
In the chat, Roussev was referred to as Jackie Chan, Dzhambazov went by Mad Max and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and referred to his spies as The Minions.
The spy ring, which operated over at least three years, is believed to have been one of the 'largest and most complex' enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
The network engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations targeting people and places of interest to the Russian state.
The defendants' spy activities ranged between the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.
They discussed deploying 'lashes queen' Gaberova as a honeytrap to snare a high-profile journalist, dropped 100 litres of pigs' blood on the Kazakhstan embassy in London by drone, and kidnapped a man in the UK.
Spyware was recovered from the seaside hotel, described by Roussev in messages as his 'Indiana Jones garage' – including audiovisual spy devices hidden inside a rock, men's ties, a Coca-Cola bottle and a Minions cuddly toy.
Kit to make and test counterfeit identity documents was recovered from Roussev's address, with a stash of fake passports also found at the one-bedroom flat in Harrow that Ivanova and Dzhambazov shared.
After his arrest, Roussev initially denied spying for Russia, telling police: 'No James Bond activity on my end, I guarantee you.'
Mr Justice Hilliard made a confiscation order for Roussev to pay £180,768 in ill-gotten gains.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, said: 'The investigation team worked incredibly hard to piece together a complex and wide-ranging conspiracy that I would describe as espionage on an industrial scale.
'The significant jail sentences handed to the group reflect the serious threat they posed to the safety and interests of the UK, as well as targets across Europe.
'This case is a clear example of the increasing amount of state threat casework we are dealing with in the UK. It also highlights a relatively new phenomenon whereby espionage is being 'outsourced' by certain states.
'Regardless of the form the threat takes, this investigation shows that we will take action to identify and disrupt any such activity that puts UK national security and the safety of the public at risk.'
Security minister Dan Jarvis said: 'These substantial sentences should send a clear warning to anyone seeking to threaten our security, harm the UK, and compromise the safety of the public.
'This case is a stark reminder of the increasingly complex threat we face from hostile states who wish to undermine us, and why national security is a foundation of our Plan for Change. We will use the full range of tools and powers available to us to detect, disrupt, and deter malicious acts from hostile states and protect the public.
'I am especially grateful for the work of our world-leading law enforcement partners and the Crown Prosecution Service for disrupting this threat and bringing these individuals to justice.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


ITV News
30 minutes ago
- ITV News
Austria school shooting: Gunman who killed nine in Graz was former student, police say
Authorities say the assailant was a 21-year-old Austrian man who had two weapons, which he appeared to have owned legally.


NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Austrian school shooter was 21-year-old lone gunman from the area
A lone gunman killed nine people and injured several others at an Austrian high school in the city of Graz, the country's second-largest city. Police say the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. NBC News' Matt Bodner reports on what we know about the perpetrator.


ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
New documentary claims Nazi guards shot slave workers for entertainment in Alderney's prison camps
A new documentary on Alderney 's prison camps claims that Nazi guards lined up prisoners to shoot for sport during wartime occupation. Ghosts of Alderney, created by artist and Piers Secunda, is an upcoming documentary focused on the lives of prisoners on the island during the Second World War. In the film's trailer, Piers says he has been researching this topic for five years, adding: "There was clear evidence of atrocities". The documentary alleges that they have proof German forces used slave labourers for regular target practice in firing squads. One account from the family of a prisoner explains: "If somebody was injured at work, they were often shot [...] people were so badly beaten, they were just tipped into the sea. "This was the biggest mass murder on British soil." The Channel Islands were occupied by Germany in 1940 and remained so until May 1945. In that time, more than 7,000 prisoners were taken to Alderney and put into one of its four forced slave labour camps. They included Lager Sylt: the only Nazi concentration camp on British soil during the wartime conflict. Prisoners mainly came from Eastern Europe and were used to build fortifications for Hitler's Atlantic Wall. Last year, an investigation into Alderney's prison camps revealed that up to 1,134 prisoners died in Alderney - far greater than the previous official figure of 389. The independent film is now hoping to shed light on the treatment of prisoners on the island. Historians say these latest revelations add to the overall picture of what happened on the island. Dr Gilly Carr, an archaeologist and historian who specialises in researching Holocaust heritage, warns that the film shouldn't be used as a basis for any further death toll calculations. She explains: "The methods that we have used for calculating the numbers of deaths use very different sorts of archival records. "What I would do as a historian is to take this testimony and add it to what we know of the kind of brutality that happened in the island and the sort of atrocities. "It is another terrible example of the kind of things that happened. That is how I would use it, but I would not use it for any kind of mathematical calculation." Jersey and Guernsey were liberated on 9th May 1945, but Alderney was considered a fortress with strong defences and was not liberated until 16 May. Alderney residents did not return to the island until December 1945, as it took months for German war material to be cleared and the island's dwellings to be repaired. Despite the suffering inflicted, virtually none of the German soldiers in Alderney were ever brought to justice, as the British government handed the case over to the USSR, which also failed to seek retribution. UK Holocaust Envoy Lord Pickles - who led the new study - said the failure to bring offenders to British justice was "a stain on the reputations of successive British governments".