The Burgas Appellate Court has remanded Ivan Georgiev from Sofia and Stamat Kalpakliev from Nessebar in custody, denying the appeals they filed against their initial remand measures. With this ruling, the court panel upheld the decision to keep both men in detention.

According to the prosecution's case, on August 24, in the town of Nessebar and within the territory of the Tsarevo Municipality—along the third-class road between Tsarevo and Rezovo—the defendants possessed nearly 100 kg of narcotics with the intent to distribute. Specifically, a quantity of 98,889.350 grams of marijuana, divided into 100 individual polyethylene bags, was discovered in a Renault Megane vehicle. The market value of the seized drugs is estimated at over 1 million euros.

Both individuals have been charged with committing a serious premeditated crime, which carries a penalty of 5 to 15 years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 leva.

The appellate panel accepted as reasonable and correct the lower court's conclusion that, based on the verbal, written, and physical evidence collected thus far, there is a reasonable assumption of the defendants' involvement in the investigated crime. The magistrates noted that there is no real danger of them absconding, citing their established identities, permanent residential addresses, the lack of attempts to evade prosecution, and the documents provided regarding their marital status.

Nevertheless, the court identified the second statutory prerequisite for detention: a real risk that each of the defendants might commit a new crime. As grounds for this, the court pointed to Stamat Kalpakliev's prior conviction for drug offenses, as well as an ongoing criminal proceeding against Ivan Georgiev.

"The risk of committing a new crime is also inferred from the data regarding the large quantity, high value, and the factual circumstances of the investigated activity, which increase both the social danger of the act and the individuals involved, who are capable of organizing and executing the alleged unlawful actions. The court finds the assessment that this danger can only be mitigated through the most severe remand measure—detention in custody—to be correct," the court's reasoning states. The ruling of the Burgas Appellate Court is final and not subject to further appeal.