Spies, Bad Spies and Bulgarian Spies.

 So three "Bulgarians" have been caught and are to be tried as Spies. They have been in the country over a decade and their cover was a charity helping Bulgarians adjust to life in the UK. 

Niice. I wonder how much taxpayer's money went into the charity?

Only three spies have been caught so far but I expect there are a lot more. Last year just after Russia went into Ukraine, there were a fair number of "Albanians" that arrived in the dinghies that weren't your typical immigrant Albanians. 

There's no information as to what the Bulgarians were up to, but they are charged with possessing documents i.e Passports of different nationalities "With Improper Intentions".

A pretty soft charge if you ask me.

There's not much to spy on here in the UK any more. What few military resources we have are on public display and quite a lot of the time someone on YouTube is videoing it all. But the different passports hint at visits to the EU to gather intelligence of EU efforts to bolster Ukrainian forces.

If anything I expect they will be spreading disinformation of social media. 

Ryan McBeth on YouTube is ex-military and has the occasional dissection of social media disinformation assets. Interesting listening to his military expertise and his more modern net security stuff.

Let's be honest though: these Bulgarians are about the bottom of the pile when it comes to spies. They are not the cream of the crop.

The best of the best live the life, stay under the radar and don't get caught. The best spies have the ability to blend in and if necessary manipulate their environment to suit their needs. Someone who can be in a high-flying job in one minute, then the bottom of the pile the next, only to bounce back the next. People who appear to be all over the place, almost at a whim. 

Those are the sort of people you need to be wary of. The sort people that are intelligent, too intelligent for the position they are in. 

"Albanians" with a bit too much organisation and ability. Good haircuts. Smart but not ostentatious. Squared away, look like they know their shit. Ones who regularly go to the gym,  have an obvious but vague means of income and don't arouse suspicions enough to point directly to money laundering and Albanian crime families.  Don't drive flashy black Mercs and instead drive an ordinary car.

"Turkish" Barber Money Laundering.

The way to put an end to the money laundering is to stop using such establishments. You know the type: the Turkish barbers who are actually Albanian setting up shop with a beautifully equipped and immaculately finished barbers. From scratch, with no obvious previous activity.

That establishment is set up with a huge initial loan from an Albanian crime boss. The guys in the business aren't the people taking out the loan, they are employees of the crime boss.

In my town there are now around a dozen of these establishments. Too many to make a profit. But that's not the point. The place will stay open as long as it takes to launder the initial loan.

If the business does well and turns a profit, so much better. But the reason for the business existing in the first place is to launder the initial outlay.

The way to stop abuses like this is to refuse to use these establishments. That way the "loan" will take forever to repay. We don't want organised crime on our high streets. 

The same goes for the hand car washes that use virtual slave labour to man them. Stop using them and use a car wash that doesn't use slave labour. 

More publicity needs to be out there highlighting these issues.

There was a programme on TV a few weeks ago that tracked down a group of Albanian "refugees" from their 4-star hotel daily to their place of work: a hand car wash in the town. Don't think this is an isolated experience. It's happening the length and breadth of the country. 

But hey, nothing to see here. The Banks aren't interested. Instead they close down the acco8unts of legitimate businesses, whilst the actual money launderers carry on unaffected.