Notorious drug trafficker apprehended in Ukraine

Evelin Banev, aka Brendo has been detained in Ukraine, the Interior Ministry has confirmed.

He was last seen at a sitting of the Sofia Appellate Court in September 2015. Brendo was apprehended in this country in 2012 and handed over to the Italian authorities to be tried in Milan. However, Italy allowed him to return to Sofia temporarily to attend his Bulgarian trial.

Since then he has been convicted in absentia by an Italian court to 20 years of imprisonment, by a Romanian court – to 10.5 years of imprisonment, and also by a Bulgarian court for money laundering and cocaine trafficking. Last year Switzerland also brought charges against him or money laundering – around USD 39 million from drugs via Credit Suisse. Brendo will remain in detention in Ukraine for 20 days after which the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office has the right to request his extradition. /BGNES