Serbian citizen Goran Vukovic, head of an organised international group that engaged in business scams in several Balkan countries, was arrested in a restaurant in Sofia, the Bulgarian police confirmed on Tuesday.

Vukovic, 41, was arrested as a result of a joint action carried out by the Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian police a week ago and he has been placed in detention, officials stated at a press conference in the headquarters of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry.

The police noted that Vukovic caused damages to four Bulgarian and over 60 Serbian companies, the total value of which is estimated at over EUR 1.5 million. The arrest prevented him from performing one more scam, worth EUR 4 million.

Vukovic requested goods from companies, promising that he would pay for it afterwards but he never made any payments. He also fabricated false bank documents to prove that the goods were allegedly paid for.

The arrestee, who was born in Kragujevac, central Serbia, claimed identity as Bulgarian citizen Svetoslav Stojanov and had documents to this name.

According to operative police findings, Vukovic set up several criminal groups as of 2006, mostly with the aim of performing frauds in the territory of Serbia. After he conned 12 Serbian companies, he assumed a new identity and transferred to Macedonia.

There are certain data that claim he performed scams in the territory of Croatia, Slovenia and other European countries as well.

Four Bulgarian citizens were also detained in the police action, all of whom are members of Vukovic's criminal group in Bulgaria.