Bulgaria’s National Police Service Has New Director

The caretaker Interior Minister has appointed a new National Police director, the Ministry said on Tuesday. Stanimir Stanev comes to replace Nikolai Hadjiev who will be reassigned. The reasons for Hadjiev's replacement remain unclear.

The announcement comes to confirm media reports about the reshuffle earlier in the day. Only the name of the new National Police director was missing from the reports: the Interior Ministry told the Bulgarian National Television that he would be announced after he is presented to the Interior Ministry personnel.

Stanev has been with the Interior Ministry since 1992. He has held senior positions in the National Police and the police in the southern cities of Plovdiv and Kurdjali.

This reshuffle comes in the heel of the replacement by the caretaker government of the Border Police chief Svetlan Kichakov, of Interior Ministry chief secretary Ivaylo Ivanov and the heads of the Directorate General for Combatting Organized Crime, the Internal Security Department and the Interior Ministry Inspectorate, as well as some local police chiefs. BTA