THE USUAL SUSPECTS

 

Markov, a Bulgarian dissident who worked for the BBC was waiting for a bus on Waterloo Bridge when he felt a sharp stab in his right thigh. He recalled a man running across the bridge and jumping into a taxi. He died four days later of ricin poisoning.

So who did actually murder Georgi Markov in 1978?

It seems unbelievable, but this dreadful murder is still unsolved. Several enquiries have taken place in the UK and Bulgaria but no one has been convicted of his murder.

One theory according to a number of articles, is that CIA master spy Aldrich Ames, who betrayed his country to the Soviets, probably also betrayed female MI6 agent Mercia MacDermott.

It is alleged that she encouraged Bulgarian minister Alexander Lilov to order Markov’s murder. This would have increased Lilov’s standing within his own party and with the Soviet’s.

 

Is it entirely credible that MI6 would have come up with a plan to assassinate Markov on the streets of London?

 

There is another suspect – known in Bulgarian secret files as Agent Piccadilly. He is Francesco Gullino. He was a Danish national of Italian origin, and worked for the Bulgarian Communist regime.

Gullino has always denied being involved in the murder. According to the private investigator Klaus Dexel, Gullino was paid 30,000 pounds between 1978 and 1990 by the Bulgarian secret service.  His cover was of an antique dealer, which gave him unlimited scope to travel.

After the Communist regime fell in 1990 a secret file was found in the archives containing false passports in Gullino’s name, and receipts for thousands of pounds of cash given to him in 1978.

However, there is no real evidence that Gullino stabbed Markov. Dexel believes another Bulgarian agent named “The Woodpecker” who flew into London before the killing and flew out the next day might have killed Markov.

Gullino was detained and questioned by the Danish intelligence service in 1993, but was released due to lack of evidence.

Where is he now?

He could be anywhere in Europe, as he travelled frequently to a number of European capitals. Or he could be dead.

 

It has also been noted that Markov’s murder was similar to Alexander Litveneko’s murder in 2006.

Both of them were poisoned in London.

 

Next time – Intrigue In Geneva –

 

Murdered by a tip of an umbrella