More Russian spy cells are lurking in Great Britain, a terror chef warned when six Bulgarians were convicted of spying for the Kremlin.
The Spy Ring received orders directly from Moscow and was run from a great Yarmouth pension stacked with refined surveillance technology.
The officers have passed Russia for almost three years, spying an American airbase in Germany and opponents of the state – of whom they suddenly had themselves in 'Honeytrap' in 'Honeytap -Plots', Kidnap and even murder.
A fifth of the British terror police is now devoted to fighting an increase in threats supported by the state, said Scotland Yard Commander Dominic Murphy.
And this espionage cell lurking in the suburbs was just an example of the Russian intelligence services using Proxy agents for his 'stream of secret activity and sabotage', he warned.
“The reality is that this will not be the only activity that Russia carries out here in the UK and we have seen other disturbances here in recent months,” added Mr Murphy, head of the command of the fight against terrorism.
Beautician Vanya Gaberova, 30, decorator Tihomir Ivananchev, 39, and lab technician Katrin Ivanova, 33, were found guilty of conspiracy to spy Russia after a three -month process.
Their handler, Orlin Roussev, 46, his lieutenant, Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 32, had already found guilty of the charges under the official Secrets Act.
Beautician Vanya Gaberova (photo), decorator Tihomir Ivananchev, 39, and lab technician Katrin Ivanova, 33, were found guilty of conspiracy to spy on for Russia
Gaberova depicted with Biser Dzhambazov, 43, who had already stated guilty of the charges under the official Secrets Act
Katrin Ivanova (photo) was found guilty of being part of the network of spies that have passed on information to the Russian State
Decorator Tihomir Ivananchev, 39, (left) and Orlin Roussev, 46, (right) were both accused of the part of the ring. Roussev committed guilty on an earlier date
Ivan Stoyanov, 32, had already found guilty of the charges under the official Secrets Act
The agents are all confronted with long prison sentence when they are convicted.
Their well-funded activities include London, Vienna, Valencia, Montenegro and Stuttgart, with the two women intended to be used in a series of 'Honeytrap' plots, heard their old Bailey test.
At least £ 200,000 was sent by the group -based handler of the group, fugitive businessman Jan Marsalek, to finance the activities that were planned that more than 80,000 messages were exchanged with Roussev about Telegram.
And an 'Aladdin's Cave' from advanced technology, including rocks with hidden cameras, a £ 120,000 device for intercepting mobile telephone numbers, 11 drones, 221 mobile phones and 75 fake passports was found in the Roussev guest house.
De Bulgarse called himself 'Q Branch' after the famous quartermaster of James Bond and built many of the devices self-and, including a Coca-Cola bottle with a hidden camera.
Commander Murphy said that the investigation into the group was the greatest he had seen in his two decades of terrorism.
“This spyed on an almost industrial scale on behalf of Russia,” he added.
'It felt like something you would expect to read in a espionage novel. This is not something that we see very often. '
Shown: Fake Press cards from Gaberova and Ivanchev that were shown to the jury during the trial
The agents are all confronted with long prison sentence when they are convicted. Displayed: Gaberova's Voogdijfoto
Fugitive businessman Jan Marsalek (depicted in his passport photo) was the financier of the activities
Advanced technology including rocks with hidden cameras and a £ 120,000 device for intercepting mobile telephone numbers was found at an address in Great Yarmouth
Bulgarian National Dzhambazov, 43, has previously admitted espionage in the UK on behalf of Russia
Displayed: The Haydee Hotel Guest House in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, that was linked to the Spy Ring
A photo of a fake -Dzhambazov -Pers -card shown to the jury during the trial
The two women in the group were called the 'Brunette Twins' and had to set honey stairs for goals, including journalist Christo Grozev, whose work that the men behind the Salisbury Nerve agent discovered him a target for the Kremlin.
Gaberova was intended to seduce the journalist in a Honeytap -Plot and sent Grozev a Facebook message that he accepted.
“We can certainly also record something for Pornhub, that girl is really hot,” Roussev wrote to Marsalek.
“She's also a swinger.”
The Spymasters were also deported to kidnap Grozev and bring him back to Russia, but this plan was not followed.
The spies were also aimed at a Russian dissident established in the United Kingdom who discussed murder of a poison peel fired from a drone, a former politician of Kazakhstani and a Russian lawyer that they intended to bring Moscow 'death or alive' for compensation of £ 30,000.
The agents used Hi-Tech equipment to try to follow Ukrainian military training at American air base match barracks in Stuttgart, with the aim of determining where American patriot missiles were fired.
They corresponded to a budget of £ 34,000 a month before the operation, which was demolished when the spies were arrested in a series of Dawn raids by the British police in February 2023.
A photo of Vanya Gaberova in a spy bladder shown to the jury during the trial
Bulgarian National Dzhambazov, 43, has previously admitted espionage in the UK on behalf of Russia
The agents used Hi-Tech equipment to try to follow Ukrainian military training at American air base match barracks in Stuttgart (shown: a mini camera confiscated by the police)
The police who hit his house, Dzhambazov thought naked in bed with Gaberova.
His long -term girlfriend, Ivanova, only heard of their affair after she was arrested.
After the Salisbury -poisoning attack of 2018, Great Britain Verdrepped 23 Russian diplomats identified as non -declared intelligence officers and in the following years 100 Russian diplomat visa applications were refused on national security grounds.
Russian intelligence services have focused on other methods to carry out secret suddenly, often with the help of delayed proxy groups that are called handlers as 'misfits', said the independent reviewer of the terrorist legislation, said Jonathan Hall KC.
“The use of criminal proxies is one of the most demanding things in the world of the state threat,” he said the mail.
And the Case of Orlin Roussev shows us that [the Russian state] Uses very advanced actors.
'They certainly invested a lot in these people, given the amounts we have heard about and the refined nature of the equipment found in their houses.
“This activity took place while Russia was at war on one front with Ukraine and is clearly willing to open aggressive spyevronten in the UK and our Western allies.”
Mr. Hall said that hostile states that used to perform Snode Sudden in the West in the course of the West, with reference to a stunt in which five coffins with the French soldiers of the inscription of Ukraine 'were deposited near the Eiffel Tower last year.
A Screengrab from the Social Media Network Telegram from Biser Dzhambazov, who seems to be something, rolls on his head, while he looks like a video talk with Vanya Gaberova
Spions Katrin Ivanova (left) and Vanya Gaberova (right) can be seen in the illustration of an artist during an earlier appearance to Westminster Magistrates Court via Videolink
Image shows a Coca Cola bottle that was seized as part of the research
It is thought that the perpetrators were also Eastern Europeans coordinated by Russian intelligence.
Probably Russian guided attacks on the British soil include a arson on an industrial unit in East London connected to Ukrainian companies in March, performed by British men Jake Reeves and Dylan Earl on behalf of the Russian Wagner Mercenary Group.
Earl was the first person to be convicted of the new National Security Act, introduced last year to focus those who work secretly for hostile states in the UK.
“The use of proxies means that they are replaceable,” Mr. Hall explained.
“If they are arrested, they won't know much about the wider system that she operates so that they run a low risk.”
Mr. Hall said that Great Britain should work on the assumption that the state sponsored actions of sabotage and disruption would take place.
“Spionage is as old as the hills and there is no reason to think that the appetite will decrease,” he said.
'It is not limited to traditional espionage, information warfare has also been designed to cause disruption, to undermine and even influence systems.
'One of the things that the public does not realize is that part of it will be very striking, murder, for example, but a lot of it is actually very subtle and a long -term influence operation.
“The damage is less clear and it is very difficult to say whether there is a hidden hand at work.”
