A new series of reports of explosive devices prompted evacuations and police checks in Razgrad, Lovech, Haskovo and Blagoevgrad. The threats were received by email at judicial institutions in the three regional cities, as well as at the polyclinic attached to MBAL – Blagoevgrad. There is no information that explosive devices were found during the checks in the three cities.
Checks at courts and prosecutor’s offices
In Razgrad, the buildings of the Regional Court and the Regional Prosecutor’s Office were searched after messages reporting planted explosive devices were received at their official email addresses. Iliana Georgieva, spokesperson for the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior – Razgrad, said that employees had been evacuated and police teams were carrying out the necessary checks.
Deputy Chair of the Regional Court Judge Emil Stoev specified that security had instructed participants in ongoing court hearings to remain in the building while the remaining premises were searched.
In Lovech, the report was sent at 11:27 a.m. to the official email address of the Regional Court. Judges, administrative employees and visitors were evacuated from the building. The Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior – Lovech confirmed that threatening messages had also been received at the email addresses of other institutions, without specifying which ones. The judicial institutions are expected to resume operations after the checks are completed.
No device found in Haskovo
At the Palace of Justice in Haskovo, the report was received at 11:50 a.m. at the email address of the District Court. Employees and visitors to the institutions in the building were evacuated, after which a check was carried out according to established procedures. Police said that no explosive device had been found.
An evacuation was also carried out at the polyclinic attached to MBAL – Blagoevgrad. The threat was received around noon, and patients and medical staff were evacuated from the building. Police teams were dispatched to the scene.
The text was part of a threatening message sent during the previous series of reports. It has not been established whether the new threats are connected.
Cases continue the series from October
At the beginning of October, similar emails were sent to courts, prosecutor’s offices, schools, kindergartens, hospitals and administrative buildings in various populated areas, including Razgrad, Lovech, Montana, Haskovo and Dobrich. The messages led to evacuations, checks and the temporary suspension of institutions’ operations.
In the previous cases, the Ministry of Interior said that some of the threats had been sent through compromised email accounts and servers located outside the country. The General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and international partner agencies joined the investigation.