site.btaBulgarian Representative to Be Allowed to Get Familiar with Cape Town Murder Investigation

Giving a briefing here on Friday, caretaker Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said that his Ministry is communicating with South Africa's authorities and has been assured that they will allow a Bulgarian representative to get familiar with the situation and the investigation into the murder of four people in Cape Town. "We will receive the whole information available," Demerdzhiev added. 

On Thursday, the Bulgarian Embassy in the Republic of South Africa reported that four people murdered in Cape Town are believed to be Bulgarian citizens. Two of them are thought to be Krasimir "Kuro" Kamenov, who is wanted by the Bulgarian authorities on suspicion of death threats, extortion and murder, and his wife.

Demerdzhiev went on to say that this is not the only such case. In 2018, there was a similar murder in South Africa of a Bulgarian national and his wife. "We are doing everything possible to establish the connections between these two events as well as between previous events and the recent murder," he said.

In his words, the politicians and magistrates who are at war today, had a common enemy until recently when they were friends and were not waging a war among themselves. Lately, that common enemy was Krasimir "Kuro" Kamenov, against whom many efforts were directed. He was wanted with an Interpol Red Notice since April 21, 2023, and the Interior Ministry told South Africa's authorities where he was. Unfortunately, he was not found and detained before he got murdered, Demerdzhiev.

A check by BTA shows that Krasimir Kamenov was born on July 10, 1967 in Vidin (on the Danube). He is one of the former heads of the VIS-2 security agency, linked to organized crime in Bulgaria in the 1990s. He has been living in South Africa for years, but the larger part of his legal business is in Bulgaria.

On March 27, 2023, the Sofia City Prosecution Office accused Kamenov in absentia of instigating the murder of Lyubomir Ivanov, former Interior Ministry employee, and put him on the wanted list. Ivanov was murdered on March 25, 2022 in Sofia, most probably for his participation in smuggling channels for illegal cigarettes and drugs. He left the Interior Ministry system in 2014, and in 2018 he was wanted by Interpol as a participant in a criminal group for producing and selling illegal cigarettes.