Members of a Russian spy ring dubbed “the Minions” are facing years behind bars for one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
Counter-terrorism police and MI5 were able to smash the network – controlled by former Wirecard chief operating officer Jan Marsalek from Moscow – after Roussev kept messages containing instructions, targets, surveillance logs and extraordinary amounts of detail about their plots.
This “treasure trove” led to the convictions of Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39 , after “one of the biggest spying investigations” in decades.
Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, had already admitted being part of a conspiracy to spy.
Instead of a cartoon evil mastermind Gru, the defendants acted as spies working for the Russian intelligence service, also known as GRU.
They were directed by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Marsalek acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, in Great Yarmouth who received more than 200,000 euros (over £165,600) to fund the spying activities.
He deployed the Minions with second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 43, who was in a love triangle with two of the team – his partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova, jurors heard.
They targeted people and places of interest to the Russian state, even plotting to sweep up mobile phone data of Ukrainian soldiers thought to be trained at a US airbase in Germany before heading for the front line.
They also discussed using “lashes queen” Gaberova as a honeytrap to snare a high-profile journalist, dropping 100 litres of pigs blood on the Kazakhstan embassy in London by drone and kidnapping a man on UK soil.
When police moved to arrest the spies in February 2023, they found Dzhambazov naked in bed with his lover Gaberova rather than at home with Ivanova.
A treasure trove of spyware was uncovered in a raid on Roussev’s operations centre in a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth – described in messages as his “Indiana Jones garage”.
Among the haul were homemade audiovisual spy devices hidden inside everyday objects including a rock, men’s ties, a Coke bottle and a Minions cuddly toy.
Kit to make and test counterfeit identity documents was recovered from Roussev’s address, with a stash of fake passports also found at the one-bedroom flat in Harrow that Ivanova and Dzhambazov shared.
Police pieced together six operations dating back to August 2020 from more than 100,000 Telegram messages on Roussev’s phone in which he and Marsalek made light of their dangerous plans.
In the chat, Roussev was nicknamed Jackie Chan, Dzhambazov went by Mad Max and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and referred to his spies as The Minions.
A jury deliberated for more than 32 hours to find Ivanova, of Harrow, Gaberova, of Euston, and Ivanchev, of Acton, guilty on Friday of plotting to spy for an enemy state.
Ivanova was also convicted of having a stash of false identity documents “with improper intention”, which Roussev and Dzhambazov admitted along with the spy plot.