IN the three weeks following the murder of Emil Kyulev, Bulgaria's richest banker, the Interior Ministry is continuing high-profile efforts to fight organised crime in the country.

On November 9, the Sofia Appeals Court ruled that Krassimir "the Margin" Marinov and his brother Nikoai would remain in custody until further investigation was completed. The brothers face charges of planning the murders of three people.

"Today is the day the Bulgarian court will prove whether it has a place in the state or not," General Valentin Petrov, head of the National Police Service, said in the court building. After the court's decision was announced, Prosecutor-General Nikola Filchev said: "The public can expect more arrests of such underworld figures". The measures against organised crime should be more effective and the police must destroy the organised crime network, he said.

"All mob channels for money laundering must be revealed so that gangsters can be pressed against the wall," Filchev said. He acknowledged the culpability of the justice and legal system for not acting in time.

"We are always one step behind the criminals and society is within its rights to criticise us," he said.

Two arrests followed later the same day. The Interior Ministry media office said in a statement that two of the most prominent gangsters had been arrested. Dimitar "Demby" Vuchev and Zlatomir "the Barrette" Ivanov were detained for 24 hours.

Ivanov was previously accused of smuggling and drug dealing. Bulgarian-language newspapers had often linked him to the murder of Anton "the Beak" Miltenov, killed this summer. Vuchev was arrested in a cafe in Studentski Grad (Student's Town). Previously he was investigated for a number of attacks, drug dealing and assaults. He was also investigated for Miltenov's murder and the murder of mob boss Konstantin "Samokovetsa" Dimitrov, shot dead in Amsterdam in 2003. 

The Government has also decided to back the Interior Ministry's efforts. In a session on November 3 - where Filchev and Angel Alexandrov, director of National Investigative Service, were also present - it allocated an additional five million leva from the state budget for the Ministry. The funds were aimed at the purchase and implementation of surveillance equipment for Sofia and for a GPS system.

"Later on, other cities will also receive such systems," Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said after the session.

"This is not about a single demonstration of efforts. We are planning to impose a different approach, a more systematic one, when all government institutions work together. This is something that has not been done for years," Stanishev said. He continued: "One hundred twenty-three murders of mob bosses in recent years is something extremely serious and the Government has made a request to the Prosecutor General's Office to step up on the pre-trial stage of the cases so that they can be send to the court."

Interior Minister Roumen Petkov presented his report about the results of the ongoing Operation Respect, launched after Kyulev's murder. In total, 451 people had been detained out of the 36 000 people that were checked by the police. Close to 46 000 vehicles had also been checked. As a result of the massive police presence on the streets, which included Gendarmerie and Special Forces, crime in Sofia had declined considerably, said Petkov.

Minister of Justice Georgi Petkanov also presented a report. According to him, the witness protection program "is not working at all and needs improvement". As one of the problems, Petkanov underlined the lack of finance.