A police officer has become main suspect in the case of Romanian investigative journalist Emilia Sercan, who a week ago announced she received a death threat. She had linked the threat to her investigative reporting, which has focused on plagiarism cases among high level officials and lately on the leadership of the police academy of the country.

HotNews.roFoto: Hotnews

Several searches took place on Wednesday morning at the Police Academy, linked to the threat to Sercan, judicial sources told HotNews.ro. The key suspect is an officer employed by the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Police Academy, who was retained and is due to face hearings.

The officer, named Adrian George Barbulescu, was retained in the city of Slatina and was due to be taken to Bucharest.

Emilia Sercan declared shortly after the announcement that she was "dumbfounded" as a "police officer, a man due to defend the law, issues death threats to an investigative journalist. It cannot be imagined! I home a bit of honor will exist among the Police Academy management structures this time around".