Prominent Bulgarian businessman, former secret agent shot dead in Sofia

Alexei Petrov, a former Bulgarian intelligence agent and businessman, who has previously campaigned for the presidential post, has been murdered in Sofia.

As reported by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), the 61-year-old has been shot dead in the Dragalevtsi suburb of the Bulgarian capital around 12 p.m local time on August 16, accompanied by a female who was also attacked. She later succumbed to her injuries and died in hospital.

According to Kommersant, referring to the security agencies of Bulgaria, the suspects may be foreigners which is why the special services are carrying out thorough checks at the Sofia airport.

It is speculated that he might have been targeted for his business activities, the news portal reports.

Interior Ministry Chief Commissioner Peter Todorov said that a task force has been set up with the participation of many Interior Ministry services, to coordinate the investigation.

The BTA recalled, that this was not the first time Petrov's life had been threatened, with previous assassination attempts in 2002 and 2015, with none of the attackers apprehended and the cases remaining unresolved.

On February 10, 2010, he was arrested during an operation code-named Octopus against a criminal group engaged in extortion, forced debt collection and racketeering, illegal use of persons for paid sexual services, distribution of narcotics, influence peddling, money laundering, income evasion, non-payment of taxes and VAT evasion from the state budget. He was released on bail with the case being closed in 2014 due to a lack of evidence.

The Bulgarian Novinite provided information on his past activities, reporting, that he started his career as part of one of the elite units of Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry, the Specialized Squad for Fighting Terrorism. Petrov later served in Bulgaria’s National Security Service, one of the main directorates of the Interior Ministry before then entered the private business sector. He was the founder of a number of insurance companies in Bulgaria and other countries, and also headed the Bulgarian karate federation, where his path crossed with that of current Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who himself is a former coach of the Bulgarian national karate team.

In 2011, Alexei Petrov ran for president and was nominated by an initiative committee, and received just under 1% of the vote in the first round.