Bulgarian Interior Ministry Tsvetan Tsvetanov has hailed "the elimination" of kidnappings in Bulgaria as one of his department's biggest achievements to date, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on July 2 2010.

The minister said that the establishment of specialised joint investigating teams of the Prosecution Office, the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security (SANS) had reaped dividends. He also hailed his department's success in "neutralising" armed robberies.

Tsvetanov conceded, however, that "conventional crime", especially in rural towns and smaller villages, remains a massive challenge for the Interior Ministry. He pointed out that the global economic downturn, rampant unemployment, "the low social status of the Roma population in Bulgaria", and other factors, all explained the difficult situation.

Another positive achievement of the Interior Ministry, Tsvetanov said, was guaranteeing security at seaside resorts. Authorities have also secured normal passage for Turkish guest workers through the Bulgarian-Turkish border during the summer.

The Interior Ministry also revealed details surrounding a recent operation, codenamed "Border", aimed at terminating corrupt police practices on the Kapitan Andreevo border frontier checkpoint with Turkey.

Authorities had observed that people crossing the border had been harassed and coerced into paying bribes by Bulgarian border police.
Several companies frequenting the border crossing were "tagged" by Bulgarian police to collect evidence. "The systematic abuse has been going on for years. We have received numerous complaints in the past from EC countries and no one did anything about it. We will put an end to it," Tsvetanov said at a press conference.

Tsvetanov said that all pledges undertaken by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), before parliamentary elections in 2009, involving the security sector, had been fulfilled.