The authorities in Bulgaria say they have smashed a money-laundering ring that had siphoned more than thirty million dollars through nine local banks.

The Interior Ministry said nineteen people had been arrested.

The money-laundering had taken place over a six-month period, operating through fake companies which had been set up in an operation to evade taxes and customs duties.

A separate off-shore company had also been set up and had used a bank account based in an eastern European country, which the Ministry did not name. Correspondents say the arrests came ahead of local elections on October the sixteenth, in which organised crime has been a key campaign issue.