Police warn of ‘proxy’ Russian spying after Bulgarians convicted
The defendants were found guilty of an ‘industrial scale’ operation.
A counter-terrorism chief has warned of the growing trend of Russia using criminal proxies to spy on British soil as a group of Bulgarians were convicted of carrying out operations on an “industrial scale”.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command vowed never to take his “eye off the ball” as he hailed his team’s success.
In an interview with the PA news agency, he said: “This is one of the largest and most complex examples of a group working for a foreign state to conduct intelligence surveillance operations here in the UK so it is a very significant case and I am very proud of the investigation team and the success they have had.
“This investigation uncovered spying on behalf of the Russian state on an industrial case, in this case committed by a group of Bulgarians contracted by an individual to conduct that spying on behalf of Russia.
“As the UK becomes a more hostile environment as a result of our work we will see them increasingly use proxies to conduct their activities.”
On Friday, Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of plotting to spy for Russia.
They will be sentenced in May alongside three more Bulgarians who had admitted their part in the operation.
The spies began operating within two years of a botched assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 which led to the death of innocent member of the public Dawn Sturgess.
They carried out detailed surveillance and intelligence gathering on a number of people and places of interest to Russia and even discussed launching kidnap and honeytrap plots.
On the threat they posed, Mr Murphy said: “My concern has always been what that lifestyle surveillance was going to lead to and we have seen a long history of the Russian state conducting operations here in the UK, including lethal threat operations like the investigation in Salisbury.”
“Certainly national security was at stake as a result of this investigation but, yes, there was physical threat to individuals here in the UK which is one of the reasons we treat investigations like this so seriously in counter-terrorism police.”
The ring was smashed in raids on properties in London and ringleader Orlin Roussev’s address in Great Yarmouth in February 2023, where police uncovered a treasure trove of hi-tech spyware.
Mr Murphy said: “We conducted a warrant at an address in Great Yarmouth that was a former guesthouse, so a very large premises, and in that premises we found what I would describe as a treasure trove of highly sophisticated surveillance equipment, both audio and visual equipment devices, some very very sophisticated devices designed to gather digital information from their targets.
“I have never seen anything link this in my more than 20 years in counter-terrorism.
“It was an extremely sophisticated operation.
“To give you some idea of the things we found, we found some cuddly toys, a Minion toy, that had been converted into an audio-visual surveillance device.
“We found some things you might be able to purchase online that had been heavily modified and even made by (Orlin) Roussev to look like everyday items, ties that had audio-visual devices in them, a rock that had (an) audio-visual device, lots of thing that can be hidden and used in order for them to conduct their surveillance.”
He said it was like something from “a spy novel” and provided an insight into the scale and sophistication of the operation.
Even though the spies adopted names of Hollywood action stars in light-hearted messages, what they were discussing was deadly serious.
Mr Murphy said: “This group had nicknames for each other and reading some of the messages and seeing some of the content on the devices you might be tempted to think this is not a serious threat but behind those nicknames was an extremely sophisticated intelligence gathering operation that posed a real threat to national security and a real threat to individuals, including journalists.
“Of course we guard the free press proudly in the UK but this group was targeting people who were writing stories that were harmful to Russia so it was really important for us to disrupt the threat they posed.”
On the challenges faced by enemy states operating on UK soil, he said: “Within counter-terrorism policing we are seeing more than 20% of our demand now coming from threat posed from foreign states to our national security so this is an ever growing challenge for us.
“We are committed to working closely with intelligence agencies in this country and our international partners to disrupt activity by foreign states.
“We have been working hard to make the UK a hostile working operating environment for these countries and this is an example of that because this group were contracted to operate on behalf of Russian intelligence services because this is a hostile environment for them to operate in directly here.
“So some positives but we will never take our eye off the ball working with our partners to keep the UK safe.”
He added: “I think this is a good case to demonstrate to individuals why when they are approached on behalf of foreign states and conduct activities here in the UK they should say no to that activity and report it to the authorities.”
