site.btaUPDATED Acting Prosecutor General Likens Case of Dead Men and Burned Lodge to Mystery Horror Drama

Police is looking for the owner of a lodge near the Petrohan Pass where three men were found shot dead on February 2, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov told the press during a visit to the western village of Batanovtsi on Wednesday. He said that the authorities "do not rule out a possibility in which he is no longer living". 

The lodge owner, identified as Ivaylo Kalushev, had sent a message to his mother which brings to the conclusion that he has taken his own life.

The lodge itself was burned. 

The identity of the three men that were found dead with shotwounds near the Petrohan lodge had not been disclosed by the authorities. National Police Director Zahari Vaskov told the press on Tuesday that the outcome of the postmortems were still due. He also said that persons linked to an NGO are wanted by police in connection with the dead bodies investigation and that the NGO's activity is being probed.

Sarafov said that "there are a lot of unknowns about this case and a lot of work remains to be done". 

He likened the case to the Twin Peaks mystery horror drama.

"What I have seen, shocked me. I was twice as shocked by the activity of the NGO which apparently tried to take over the powers of state institutions, to pursue its own policy and activity," he said.

He was apparently referring to the organization that used the Petrohan lodge as its base. It is widely reported to be called "National Agency for Control in Protected Areas" but no competent official has confirmed the name.

He said that its activity must be thoroughly checked, "including the camps that it ran for children". According to him, the said organization has been probed on two-year-old tipoffs from the State Agency for National Security (SANS). "What hampers the collection of information and evidence is the children's parents' unwillingness to cooperate. The children's parents are boycotting the investigation", he said.

SANS Director Denyo Denev said that they carried out a probe on an alert "from a citizen" and found reasons to believe that a criminal offence had been committed. The case has been referred to the prosecution service. The alert "contained allegations about sexual abuse of minors, paramilitary structures using the said lodge and operating as a sect in deviation from the common religious views", said Denev.