“Ruzha Ignatova is alive. Purely based on operational data or from friendly foreign services, we have no information available either about a change in appearance or that death has occurred. For us, she is alive and for everyone, she is alive! We are looking for her“. This was stated in an exclusive interview for the "Telegraph Podcast" by the head of the "Search" sector at the SDVR, Chief Inspector Emil Stoyanov. She is currently being sought worldwide through Interpol, as well as by police officers from Bulgaria, Germany and the USA. The FBI is offering a $5 million reward for information about the crypto queen who defrauded thousands of people of billions of dollars. In one of the most moving and candid first-person interviews, the head of the "invisible fugitive hunters" lifted the curtain on the darkest, most intricate and discussed criminal mysteries in our country. He also shared what the most difficult case of his career is – the search for the six-time murderer from Novi Iskar, Rosen Angelov, known as Gorskiy.
Citizenship: There is no Bulgarian, there is German
The topic of the founder of the OneCoin financial pyramid does not leave the agenda of the world media. Hypotheses are regularly launched in the public space that the most wanted Bulgarian was liquidated back in 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea, and her body was thrown into the water. The head of the "Search" sector, however, was categorical that there was no evidence of her death. Another curious detail also became clear. "Ruzha Ignatova does not have Bulgarian citizenship, but German - of the Federal Republic of Germany". According to Stoyanov, tremendous efforts are being made to find her, but with her billions, it is extremely difficult to find her. "This is a person with unlimited resources and based on them it is not a problem to erase and change her identity in documents and also in appearance", believes Sofia's number 1 detective.
The horror in Novi Iskar on New Year's Eve: From the first person
One of the most serious, large-scale and shocking cases in Emil Stoyanov's over 30-year career is the six-fold murder in Novi Iskar, committed on New Year's Eve. The head of the “Search“ told firsthand about the moment when he was called by the special forces to identify the body of the wanted murderer Rosen Angelov – Rosen Gorski, barricaded himself in an abandoned house in the village of Lukovo. “I was the person the infiltration and response group called me when they found him in the house, having committed suicide, having shot himself – to identify him and confirm that it was him. So I was one of the first to see him. He had prepared himself with bacon, crackers, and had run electricity with a cable through several houses. He had a tablet, batteries for the tablet, candles. He had put two mattresses up on the windows so that no silhouettes could be seen when he walked and moved!“, recalls the head of the “Search“ sector. The search went “house by house and house by house” in the canyon of the Iskar Gorge with helicopters and thermal cameras. When asked what he thought in the first second, seeing the dead murderer, Stoyanov answers: “I thought he got off too easily for what he did. He just saw on the news on his tablet that the area was fenced off from everywhere and that there was no way he could get out. We are talking about six human lives, and the dog became seven victims. This is the most serious case in my practice, which has no analogue“.
Load: 25 operatives are searching for 1502
Currently, the SDVR is searching for 1502 people. There are about 25 operatives working in the sector. Some of them have to search for between 60 and 80 people at the same time, Stoyanov reveals. The most complicated thing is when the missing change their appearance. Not only do they grow beards and long hair like hippies, but they also take more drastic measures. Often, relatives of wanted persons deliberately mislead and hide information in order to delay the police. There was a man's mother who shared during the conversation that her son would surrender because she bought him a TV. However, no one waited for this to happen in order to be detained. Others jumped from the second, even third floor, to avoid handcuffs, but they did not succeed. “In case a body or remains are not found, a person is searched for 20 years or until the age of 100“, the expert pointed out.
Myth busting: Don't wait 24 hours, call us immediately
“I want to break the myth of declaring a person wanted after 24 hours. This has been instilled for years, but it has never existed in the law! Declaring a person wanted is done immediately. After 24 hours, a person can already be on another continent. In the first two hours, the reaction via tel. 112 and the police is instantaneous“, explained the head of the “Search“ sector at the SDVR. The teams of both the public transport, the metro, and the police have tablets and the photo of the missing person comes up immediately. “The reaction is instantaneous, don't wait, but let us know”, Stoyanov also urged.