The owner of the horror hut Ivaylo Kalushev, who is currently wanted by the police, has been doing business in Mexico for more than a decade, our team's investigation found. His main companies and projects are concentrated in the field of extreme cave diving and underwater research in the Yucatan Peninsula region. The Bulgarian was also a sailor, film producer and martial arts instructor.
Kalushev was with two of the murdered people back in 2015 in Mexico, a photo archive of one of his scuba diving companies shows. In 2019, the Bulgarian admitted that three generations of children have passed through the adventure school he created in Bulgaria.
"Public data shows that Ivaylo Kalushev, who is wanted by the police, has been developing a business in Mexico for more than a decade. In the period 2010-2023, he led projects in the field of extreme cave diving and underwater research in the Yucatan Peninsula region," reports BNT.
Kalushev's name is associated with four organizations there. In 2013, the team around the Bulgarian was engaged in large-scale underwater research and mapping, with one of the projects receiving major funding from the state.
Shortly after that, in 2015, the Bulgarian appeared in a new role. This time as a producer of a film campaign. Part of the expeditions were filmed and released in the form of a documentary film entitled "The Unexplored". Two more Bulgarians participated in it. With the help of the Kalushev Foundation, he managed to purchase a research base and a compressor station in Mexico. He also established a scuba diving school there. Its archives from 2015 contain photos with the Bulgarian. The footage shows two more of our compatriots, whose names match those of two of the victims in the "Petrohan" hut. These are Ivaylo Ivanov and Plamen Stattev. From the photographic material it is clear that the three were diving in hard-to-reach caves.
Kalushev's experience is being transferred from Mexico to Bulgaria in the form of the "Rook" Adventure School. In 2019, he presented his project in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, stating at the time that adventure and the mountain can give strength to weak, introverted and bullied children at school.
Ivaylo Kalushev ("Horizont do obed'', Bulgarian National Radio, 2019): "We have vast experience working with children. Three generations of children have passed through our lives. There is a whole world that these children know nothing about. This is the world of games, sports, the mountains, everything is encapsulated in school and this is noticeable in a very frightening way. The children themselves are quite "extinguished".
It turns out that back in time, the reindeer organization around Kalushev was supported by the mayor of Sofia, Vasil Terziev. Terziev stated on Facebook that he personally knows Ivo, Decho, and Plamen. The mayor donated money for electric motorbikes in the fight against poachers. Terziev describes the three men as some of the best cave divers in the world - living modestly, choosing to fight a brutal enemy. According to the mayor, the killed men were helping border police in the fight against illegal migrants and fighting against the forest mafia.