A glamorous beautician who runs a London salon called Pretty Woman is among five Bulgarians accused of spying for Russia in the UK.
Vanya Gaberova, 29, is among the group accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy for purposes detrimental to national security and interests,” the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Thursday. .
He spied for at least two-and-a-half years, the CPS said – shocking those who knew him as the “very gentle and polite” boss of the Pretty Woman salon in west London.
“He was very shy, cautious,” Tiago Nogueria, manager of a Portuguese restaurant across the street from the salon, told the UK press.
“I wouldn’t suspect him of being a spy but if he is, he’s a good one.”
Award-winning beautician Vanya Gaberova, 29, is among five Bulgarians living in the UK who have been accused of spying for Russia. Vanya Gaberova/ east2west News
Gaberov was arrested in February under the Official Secrets Act. Prosecutors on Thursday said he and four others – Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, and Ivan Stoyanov, 31 – were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage.
In addition to running a salon, the accused spy won several awards.
In 2019, the glamorous brunette scooped two prizes at the Grand Balkan Eyelash and Brow Championship.
Orlin Roussev was also charged with conspiracy to commit espionage.
Gaberova also won an award in the Russian Beauty Battle competition in 2020 and won 15 prizes for lash work at the Ukraine Lash and Brown Championship 2020.
Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova had already been charged in February with possessing false identification documents, officials said.
During a court appearance in July, prosecutors said that searches of properties in London and Norfolk linked to the three suspects had turned up 34 identity cards, some of which were suspected to be forged, from the UK, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, also faces charges. Bizer Dzhambazov/Facebook
The arrest follows an investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
The Bulgarian is suspected of working in a spy cell that carried out surveillance of targets in the UK and Europe on behalf of the Russian security services between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.
One of their operations allegedly took place in Montenegro and involved the creation of fake documents for journalists, including one featuring Ivanova’s photo, BBC News reported.
Roussev is said to be the leader of a spy ring that allegedly ran a spying operation out of a guesthouse in Great Yarmouth and passed the intelligence it gathered to its handlers in Russia.
Katrin Ivanova, 31, was also named in the indictment.
Roussev has lived in the UK since 2009 and previously worked in financial services, before starting a business specializing in the interception of electronic signals, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Dzhambazov and his girlfriend Ivanova moved to the UK from Bulgaria a decade ago and share a house in Harrow.
Dzhambazov earns a living as a driver in a hospital, while Ivanova works as a laboratory assistant for a medical business.
Vanya Gaberova won several awards while running her salon.Vanya Gaberova / east2west News
He was spying for at least two and a half years, CPS said. Vanya Gaberova / east2west News
The couple also run a community organization helping fellow Bulgarian expats.
The five suspects are expected to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Last November, Britain’s domestic intelligence chief said more than 400 suspected Russian spies had been expelled from Europe, in the “most significant strategic blow” to Moscow in recent history.
British police previously charged three Russians, who they said were GRU military intelligence officers, with the 2018 attempt to kill former double agent Sergei Skripal with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
