More than 9,424 people have been checked and some 1,363 of them have been detained during the massive police operation "Respect" launched in Bulgaria in the end of October.

Interior Minister Rumen Petkov explained that some 7,688 of the people probed had criminal records and 61 of them were leaders or were part of organized crime groups in the country. The minister pointed out that every day over 6,000 police officers are involved in different anti crime operations in the country.

Fight against international terrorism and organized crime is a top priority of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, Rumen Petkov said at the international "Risks to Security and Transformation: Euro-Atlantic and Regional Perspectives" conference.

The latest crime operation came after the murder of Bulgaria's top banker Emil Kyulev. Kyulev one of the richest men in the country and owner of Bulgaria's largest insurance and banking group, DZI Group was shot to death while he was riding in a jeep at one of Sofia's main boulevards. His execution has been described as the most provocative murder and has shocked both the business and political elite in the country.

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