This is the Bulgarian ghetto where millions of pounds of taxpayers' money was sent as part of Britain's largest ever benefits scam.
Casinos and jewellery shops sit in stark contrast to neighbouring market vendors selling fruit and veg, meat, cheese and basic cooking equipment. A line of expensive motors are parked in Nadezhda - the Roma gypsy town where a gang of five Eastern Europeans were from who were jailed last week for raking in £54million as part of a five-year Universal Credit scam
Bulgarian police first rumbled the scam after noticing a sudden influx of wealth flowing into the area - where many survive on 900 Lev per month - with three and four storey mansions replacing ramshackle dwellings and 30 casinos opening in the city. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, local resident Christina who spent five years living in Boston, Lincolnshire, said gang members had exploited lax work from home rules during Covid to sign up thousands of applicants who were not required to appear in person to receive cash.
Christina's husband Manal - who worked in a food packaging plant while living in the UK before deciding to move home - said: 'This has been discussed in the community that members of the ring are not from Nadezhda. They have connections here but they are not from here.' Be the first to commentBe one of the first to commentCommentsDo you think there should more rigorous procedures for distributing universal credit?Comment now A silver BMW is parked alongside two other glamorous vehicles
'But to scam people is a sin before God and it turns a whole community into scapegoats and makes black sheep of us even though most people are just trying to make honest money. The court heard the benefits recipients in Bulgaria 'were complicit and also gained financially' from the scam. Prosecutors said the gang used the benefits system 'like a cash machine' and on one of the seized mobile phones was a video showing the fraudsters showering their flat with hundreds of £20 notes.High-end clothes shops, including this one, are seen in Sliven, Bulgaria