Active actions are being taken to investigate 4 pre-trial proceedings in connection with crimes against intellectual property on the Internet. On January 29 of this year alone, 44 sites were inspected, searches and seizures were carried out at 30 addresses in four regions of the country, including offices of commercial companies, it became clear at a briefing at the National Investigation Service on the occasion of the coordinated international operation against perpetrators of crimes against intellectual property on the Internet last week.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SCPO) and the Sofia District Prosecutor's Office (SDPO), and involved teams from the National Investigation Service, the State Agency for National Security (SANS), and the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime -within the Ministry of Interior, together with agents from the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice. Assistance was also provided by Europol.
Two of the pre-trial proceedings are for crimes under Art. 172A of the Penal Code, related to creation and maintenance of torrent trackers for the exchange of information - the subject of copyright (films, computer programs, music, etc.). In these, the Sofia District Prosecutor's Office has brought to justice three individuals as defendants.
The other two pre-trial proceedings are subject to a money laundering investigation and are being conducted under the supervision of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office.
Suspicious financial flows in different currencies to countries in the European Union and beyond are being checked. This is a large-scale cross-border activity. Additional information will be collected through European investigation orders and requests for international legal assistance, announced Desislava Petrova, Deputy Administrative Head of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. She specified that a complex computer-technical examination of seized objects with computer data has been ordered.
The goal of the coordinated operation was not only to suspend the activities of the specific torrent sites, but also to remove Bulgaria from the list of countries that do not comply with the relevant rules for the protection of rights in the online space, explained prosecutor Georgi Kodzhanikolov from the SDPO.
Svetoslav Vassilev, Head of the Cybercrime Department at the National Investigation Service, explained in detail how the operation on 29January 2026, came about. "The cases contain data on transactions carried out by one of the companies, related to one of the defendants, a Bulgarian citizen who is currently serving a 12-year sentence in the US for money laundering through crypto assets. There are other crimes that we cannot comment on at this stage,” said Vassilev. He thanked his colleagues from Europol, the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the State Agency for National Security for their exceptional professionalism. "They were all extremely operational. This is an example of how all services can cooperate in achieving a common goal, which is also useful for the state," said Svetoslav Vassilev.
The briefing was also attended by the Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime - Chief Commissioner Boyan Raev, and Dancho Zhelev, Director of a Directorate at SANS, who provided additional information about the operation.
"The operation was very complex, coordination was carried out by the National Investigation Service, many addresses in the districts of Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas and Pernik were checked and numerous computer configurations were seized," said Chief Commissioner Boyan Raev.