site.btaNGO Related to Six Violent Deaths Triggers Four Alerts since 2022

A report released on the Ministry of Interior's website on Tuesday specified that activities conducted by the NGO National Protected Areas Control Agency (NPACA) have triggered four alerts since the NGO was established in 2022. On February 2, 2026, the bodies of three NPACA members were found with gunshot wounds near a privately owned lodge at the Petrohan Pass. On February 8, three more bodies with gunshot wounds were found near Okolchitsa Peak.

The first report was filed by tourists on February 2, 2022, at the Berkovitsa Regional Police Station for alleged threats of physical violence made by five men who introduced themselves as Petrohan patrol rangers.

The second report was filed by then minister of environment and water Rositsa Karamfilova-Blagova, who notified the Ministry of Interior regarding a framework agreement dated February 8, 2022, between the Ministry of Environment and NGO. An earlier inspection had found discrepancies in the drafting of the document and had raised suspicions of unlawful exercise of control functions by the NGO in protected areas. The report was forwarded to the General Directorate National Police, and subsequently the materials were sent to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. The case file was not returned, as the actions were deemed lawful by the commission that prepared the report.

The third alert was raised by the grandparents of an 8-year-old boy and addressed to the State Agency for Child Protection with a copy to the Interior Ministry, the State Agency for National Security (SANS), and the prosecution service. The grandparents alleged that the boy's behaviour was changed after he had been taken out of state school and enrolled in a private one. He was moved to live in the Petrohan lodge with people claiming to be rangers. The grandparents suspected that the boy might be in danger.

On November 19, 2023, a meeting between the grandfather and his grandson took place. It was also attended by one of the self-proclaimed rangers, who introduced himself as Ivaylo, as well as by two other boys aged 12 and 16 or 17. The grandson did not show any emotions during the meeting. Requests for new contacts were turned down by the mother, who did not share her parents' worries. The child's father reported that his son rarely went back home and also spent 14 days either in Nepal or in Tibet with the rangers.

On June 17, 2024, the grandparents contacted the same institutions with reports that their initial alert had been leaked to the rangers and to the boy's mother. The following day, their other daughter called them to pressure them to withdraw their alert.

Following that latest alert, the Godech Regional Police Station and the Svoge Social Assistance Directorate conducted a joint inspection at the Petrohan lodge. The persons identified there claimed to be training junior rangers with the consent of their parents. No violations were found, and the prosecution service refused to initiate criminal proceedings. The same conclusion was reached by the Regional Prosecutor's Office Sofia.

The fourth report was received by the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDCOC) in early 2022. Verbal reports were received about a religious group led by Ivaylo Kalushev (one of the men found dead near Okolchitsa Peak), who was alleged to have committed acts of sexual abuse against minors. An anonymous former member of the group (2010-2016) stated that as a minor, he had been involved in sexual acts, which he described as voluntary but carried out through manipulation. The informant suggested that similar acts had been committed against another boy as well. The archived case file contains no information about any operational search measures other than inquiries from institutions. In October 2024, a working meeting was held between SANS and the GDCOC regarding the available information, but the subsequent actions were not subject to the investigation.