The large-scale operation to search for 11-year-old Natalia Asenova from Varna, who was kidnapped on June 30 by her mother's former partner - Asen Simeonov, has been ongoing for 11 consecutive days.
The operation is in a critical phase, with law enforcement agencies completely changing the organization and tactics of the search, the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Varna officially announced.
They include forces from the "Border Police" and thermal cameras
After the initial activation of the BG-Alert system and the over 12 signals received in the first days, the girl and the kidnapper were lost. The police in Varna specified that additional forces were already involved in the operation, including officers and specialized equipment from the "Border Police". At night, the terrain is being patrolled with drones with infrared sensors, and dozens of hunting cameras have been set up on the forest paths in the direction of Provadia, which, however, have so far only detected wild animals. A perimeter of over 1,000 square kilometers has been searched.
Volunteers are on standby, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taken full control
The mayor of the village of Konstantinovo confirmed that local volunteer units have temporarily suspended the mass physical patrolling of the terrain. The reason is the lack of new, specific information about the location of the fugitives in the last hours. However, people remain fully mobilized and are ready to organize immediately at the next real signal.
Due to organizational shortcomings during the first hours of the disappearance, the operation was taken under the direct control of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The actions are also being expanded to the territory of Shumen district, where Asen Simeonov is from and where his relatives live. Distributed security cameras showed that the two left the village of Konstantinovo on foot, as the kidnapper knows the inaccessible forest areas in the region very well and is likely to be hiding in abandoned buildings.