Five people will appear in court in London on Tuesday, accused of spying for Russia.

This was reported by the prosecutor’s office CPS Thursday afternoon.

The five are all Bulgarian citizens and are named Orlin Roussev (45), Bizer Dzhambazov (41), Katrin Ivanova (31), Ivan Stoyanov (31) and Vanya Gaberova (29). They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

They are accused of collecting information useful to the enemy – between August 2020 and February 2023. It is the Metropolitan Police who are investigating the case.

The defendants were said to have worked in an operational spy cell for the Russian intelligence service, he said. They are accused of being part of a plot aimed at collecting and conveying information to the Russian state.

It was Roussev who should have acted as a liaison with Russian intelligence, he wrote BBC.

During raids on the residences of three suspects, Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova, the police found fake passports and identity documents of a number of countries, such as Great Britain, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic, it was further mentioned.

Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova were charged already in February this year – but only for possessing false identity documents. They appeared before the Old Bailey in July for this. Now there are much more serious allegations.

The Metropolitan Police has investigated the case after receiving information from intelligence agency MI5, it is reported Daily Mail.

The five people, among others, were reportedly operating under the guise of journalists, British media reported.