The police launched Friday a special operation codenamed "Killers" in six cities across the country,
the Interior Ministry told BTA. Some 20 were arrested and over 30 addresses were checked, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

On one occasion the inhabitant refused to cooperate and resisted the law enforcement authorities, after which a search revealed an AK-47 assault
rifle.

According to BNR information, one of the crimes of which the arrested are suspected, is the murder of the President of the Rilski Sportist football club Yuri Galev in June this year.

Again BNR said that the President of the Bulgarian Sumo Federation Peter Stoyanov was arrested in the morning.

Later on Tsvetanov confirmed at a news conference in Rousse (on the Danube) that sumo wrestler Peter Stoyanov had been arrested as part of Operation Killers.

Commenting on Stoyanov's public activity, Tsvetanov said that the Interior Ministry needs to know if the person it is arresting has committed a crime and is not interested in his public standing.

Tsvetanov said that more people could be arrested in Operation Killers because those already arrested were being questioned and could make disclosures.

This is an extremely grave case of a criminal group, with a commissioner, an organizer, perpetrator and helpers - all of whom have been arrested. The group was involved in crimes on the territory of the country and the very codename of the operation shows the kind of crimes they were involved in, Tsvetanov said.

Details on the operation will be given on Saturday at a special news conference with the participation of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Tsvetanov and Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Kalin Georgiev.

Tsvetanov is convinced that these details will prove a well-deserved occasion for congratulating the staff of the
ministry. "Maybe for the first time in contemporary Bulgarian history we have caught the entire group involved in the perpetration of such grave crimes," the Interior Minister said.