PETALING JAYA: A beautician specialising in eyelash treatments has been charged with spying for Russia.
Mirror UK reported that Bulgarian Vanya Gaberova, 29 aka ‘Pretty Woman,’ is a Britain-based company director residing in Acton, West London who has been accused of gathering “useful information for the Kremlin while living in the UK.”
Gaberova has a beauty company named VG PRETTY WOMAN LTD. She also pursued her studies at the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria. It was further reported that Gaberova is a “lashes extensions specialist” and is an “accredited eyelash educator” who has won many prizes in the UK and Bulgaria, including Russia.
The suspect’s social media profile states her interests in “travelling, cooking, shopping, walking and reading.”
She will appear alongside Orlin Roussev, Bizer Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova and Ivan Stoyanov at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
All five suspects are accused of conspiring to gather information which would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February 2023, Mirror further reported.
Meanwhile, three of the five defendants: Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova - were found with false identity documents, based on investigations by the Met Police.
It was also noted that all five had identity documents for the UK, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and the Czech Republic. All five Bulgarians were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command in February of this year under the Official Secrets Act.
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, Nick Price said: “The CPS has authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.
“Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, will be charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023.
Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova were previously charged on February 11 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010,” he was quoted as saying.
