site.btaUPDATED Interior Minister Demerdzhiev: Dragalevtsi Jammer Disrupted Aircraft GPS Signals

Evidence shows that a jammer found in Sofia’s Dragalevtsi borough disrupted GPS signals used by aircraft, Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev said on Tuesday.

Officials from the State Agency for National Security (SANS), working jointly with the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC), also confirmed the interference. Demerdzhiev was responding to a question about whether the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) held records of aircraft-signal jamming.

The registered owners are companies, but close examination of their connections leads to one person, Razmig Chakaryan, known as Ami, Demerdzhiev said. The links are indirect but can be inferred from a range of circumstances, he added.

For a long time, no one had dared to investigate these circumstances, while a police patrol was stationed for an extended period opposite the restaurant in Dragalevtsi, Demerdzhiev said. He added that those days were over.

In addition to the site in Dragalevtsi, a house near Kapitan Andreevo was also searched, Demerdzhiev said. Everything collected and seized from the two properties will now be analyzed, and he expects it to yield considerable information beyond what has already been established.

Authorities are also awaiting recordings from another seized device, which contains a large volume of footage and is expected to reveal further information, Demerdzhiev said. He explained that the device was connected to cameras. The house near Kapitan Andreevo contained equipment that recorded feeds from all the surveillance cameras covering the property.

Asked whether the individuals involved had enjoyed political protection, Demerdzhiev said: “Since no such action was taken in previous years, and since a police vehicle stood outside this restaurant and protected what was happening there, that is the conclusion we can draw.”

Asked whether parts of the jammer were missing, Demerdzhiev said there was evidence that some components had been removed. He added that enough remained to identify the equipment, which was very powerful. Every effort was being made to locate the other components and establish further details, he said.

“We should also recall that Petyo ‘the Euro’ Petrov, a broker of justice, vanished without trace there some time ago. The location is therefore of interest, and we will do everything necessary to establish what happened there and what has been happening there in recent years,” Demerdzhiev said.

Asked how long the device had been operating, Demerdzhiev said it had certainly been in use for more than a year. He said available camera footage, including from Interior Ministry and Sofia Municipality cameras, could help establish the period.

Demerdzhiev described such equipment as a potential threat because it could jam signals used by aircraft. He said the security services could locate and inspect such devices when the State had the will to act.

The Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) told BTA on Tuesday that a signal jammer can be detected and located only while turned on.

“If there were no problems with this device, it would have been found intact rather than partially dismantled, with some of its components concealed,” Demerdzhiev said.

Demerdzhiev said the security services also had information about other people using similar devices, although the equipment was not necessarily as powerful.

Demerdzhiev said the inspection had been initiated by SANS, with the Interior Ministry providing assistance. He added that it was not focused solely on a specific property or person and that the Ministry had information about numerous individuals involved in a range of activities of public concern.

The jammer discovered in the capital’s Dragalevtsi borough had been mounted on an SUV, and the owners of both the vehicle and the property were known, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Monday. “I expect the Interior Ministry and the security services to provide more information on the matter by the end of the day,” Radev said. He was speaking at a Council of Ministers news conference presenting the Justice section of the Governance Programme of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2026 to 2030.