Three suspected Russian spies based in Great Yarmouth and London have been arrested and charged following a major counterterrorism investigation.
The BBC reported yesterday that the trio were among five people detained in February “on suspicion of an offence under the Official Secrets Act”. The Metropolitan Police, which is nationally responsible for policing espionage, subsequently confirmed that two men and a woman had been charged with possession of false identity documents with “improper intention”.
According to the BBC, Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, have “lived in the UK for years, working in a variety of jobs”. All three are accused of “working for the Russian security services”.
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Dzhambazov and Ivanova lived in Harrow in northwest London after reportedly moving to the UK about a decade ago, and were “described by neighbours as a normal couple”, said the Daily Mail. The pair ran a community organisation providing services to Bulgarians, “including familiarising them with the ‘culture and norms of British society’”.
Bulgarian state documents also list them as working for electoral commissions in London that help expats to vote in Bulgarian elections.
The suspected spy operation is alleged to have been run from the Norfolk coastal town of Great Yarmouth by Roussev, “who includes ‘007’ in one of his email addresses”, according to The Times. His LinkedIn profile states that he once owned a business involved in signals intelligence, “which involves intercepting communications”, the paper added.
Roussev also worked as an adviser to the Bulgaria Energy Ministry “when it was led by Petar Dimitrov, a pro-Kremlin Bulgarian Socialist Party member”.
The three suspects had a total of 19 fake documents including passports, identity cards and driving licences for the UK, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic
The trio are also “accused of posing as journalists from American television companies”, The Times reported. Scotland Yard officers “found forged press cards and clothing for the Discovery and National Geographic channels, which were used to carry out surveillance operations” that “included targets in London, Germany and Montenegro”.
MI5 “is understood to have passed intelligence to the Met” on the suspects, who have been released on bail until September.
