site.btaBTA Director General Honoured by Home Burglary Prevention Campaign

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev Tuesday received a certificate of appreciation from the National Union of Locksmiths in Bulgaria for the news agency's support of their home burglary prevention campaign. Valchev stressed the importance of informing citizens to help prevent thefts and highlighted BTA's role as a platform for social initiatives, noting its permanent partnership agreements with nearly 50 NGOs.

Valchev said: "Honest people in Bulgaria - people who follow the Ten Commandments - form a vast majority. We need to be united and support one another. One of the most important forms of support is providing information, so that honest citizens are informed about those who, tempted by the Devil, might steal."

The burglary prevention campaign, launched earlier this year, aims to encourage homeowners to check the security of their doors before incidents occur. So far, it has generated inquiries from citizens seeking advice on lock reliability from the National Union of Locksmiths, said its Chairman, Andrey Sapundjiev.

Valchev proposed to Sapundjiev that this campaign and other union initiatives be maintained under a permanent agreement with BTA. The proposal was accepted.

In the first ten months of the year, there were 2,490 residential burglaries in Bulgaria, 387 fewer than a year earlier. In Sofia, 463 burglaries were reported between January and October, compared with 620 during a year earlier, marking a 25% decrease, Inspector Rosen Belichki from the Crimes against Property Sector of the National Police General Directorate told BTA.

Dobri Mitrev, President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, said the locksmith trade continues to develop and plays a vital role in protecting the property of Bulgarian citizens. "When businesses and the state are partners and work in the same direction for the prosperity of the Bulgarian people, we achieve success. When we are divided and the state treats business as a pocket to constantly dip into, nothing works," he said.