site.btaCurrently No Evidence to Conclude Existence of Signal Jamming Device, Sofia District Prosecution Office Spokesperson Says

Based on the preliminary findings, there is currently no evidence to conclude that a signal jamming device was involved in the case in Sofia’s Dragalevtsi borough, Sofia District Prosecution Office spokesperson Aleksandra Stefanova said at a briefing on Thursday.

Stefanova explained that security services launched an investigation in the Dragalevtsi area on August 21, during which signal interference was detected. The case was referred to the Sofia District Prosecution Office on the next day.

The supervising prosecutor explicitly ordered that all individuals connected to the proceedings be identified and questioned, Stefanova said.

So far, investigators have found cables, generators and mounting brackets without electrical devices attached to them. Stefanova added that, based on the preliminary findings, there is no basis for concluding that these devices were signal jammers.

In the course of the pre-trial investigation, no physical evidence that can preliminarily be identified as having the functions of a signal jamming device has been found.

Witnesses are still being questioned as part of the investigation, while no detainees have so far been reported to the Sofia District Prosecution Office.

On August 21, the State Agency for National Security said that jointly with the Communications Regulation Commission and the Sofia Directorate of the Interior, they located a powerful signal jammer in a heavily guarded residential complex in Dragalevtsi, from where it was suppressing GPS signal frequencies across Sofia, including at Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, affecting aircraft flying over the city and television towers.

So far, investigators have questioned witnesses and conducted six searches at different addresses. Recording devices, computer equipment, other technical equipment and one vehicle have been seized, the Sofia District Prosecution Office said.

On August 24, officers from the Sofia Directorate of the Interior also located and seized an SUV equipped with components of a professional signal jamming system, which is believed to be connected to the investigation into the GPS jammer found in Dragalevtsi. The vehicle’s ownership has been established and is linked to the owners of properties in Dragalevtsi that are currently under investigation, the Interior Ministry’s press service said.

Speaking to reporters at the Council of Ministers on August 24, Prime Minister Rumen Radev specified that the jammer had been mounted on an SUV and that the owner of both the vehicle and the property where it was found had been identified.