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Bulgaria's Capital Sofia Sees 30 Home Robberies Daily

Between 20 and 30 home robberies are committed in Bulgaria's capital Sofia every day according to police data.

While the official information lists about 3 000 burglaries per year, their number is much higher since many people do not report the intrusions into their homes, said Yanko Yankolov, head of the Crimes against Property department with the Sofia police, as cited by bTV.

Yankolov did say, however, that the police have seen a decrease in the number of home robberies, and that only six such crimes were reported this Christmas.

He admitted that only 10-12% of the burglary cases are solved successfully.

According to leading criminal journalist Slavi Angelov, however, 400 new burglars join the "
market"
each month.

Angelov pointed out that most of the burglars are not prone to violence since their aim is not to leave any traces. Many of them break in and steal while the families are sleeping.

These criminals often use pepper or even the deodorants and perfumes they find on the spot to cover their smells to prevent the use of police dogs.

Often they would grab a bouquet of flowers and will visit every apartment in a building pretending to be looking for their girlfriend just to check who is home.

Sounds alarming but compared to say London its nothing UK statistics....

A householder is attacked by a violent burglar every 30 minutes.

The shocking statistic exposes for the first time the epidemic of terrifying intruder confrontations taking place in Britain.

scott wrote:

citman. wrote:

Been burgled twice, also had electric cable stolen twice. Was burgled the first time when our place was only semi-secure, they broke the padlocks off our security shutters and nicked a few bits such as fridge freezer and washer. The second time they broke in through new metal doors (which they tried to remove and take with them) they removed the old flimsy window grills and stole several new windows and various other items, even tried removing the new bathroom sink!
We now have new doors and windows, new bars on the windows, a monitored alarm system (with battery back up) and the security company visit at least twice a day. All this didn't stop the thieving gits from taking our electric cable twice, this is now buried underground and set in concrete. We are now waiting to see what our imaginative thieves steal next. The best thing that we ever did was to ensure that we used a good insurance company!
The stupid thing is that despite all the problems we still love our house and the village and even with the benefit of hindsight would still buy there.

I love to read such stories of positiveness and even though you have had to endure a few serious problems you still smile in the face of evil PMA and I think this is the answer for all of us, I haven't yet bought my house but this is the year I shall be looking in ernest and I do believe you have removed some of the fears I may have had about even buying a house I have read all sorts of horror stories on various forums but none quite like what you have written here so thank you citman you have given me great hope

:Study: :Study:
You obviously haven't read the Villa Lorna saga then Scott, with over 87,000viewings and nearly 500 replies I don't know how you missed it
I should take those dark spec's off

I have read most of your post Brian but this one is a more Mondrian topic your was a well organised crime and carried out by what I can only describe as pro's ? I was just commenting here because its something that bothered me about village life and the small time criminal

I must also be one of the luck ones because I have never had a robbery or burglary in Bulgaria but I was burgled twice in the uk

Burglary has always been a big problem in Bulgaria although until a few years ago it was mostly confined to the cities. It is now on the increase in villages. Just a couple of tips when you are looking to buy a house, always try to buy in a working village, and not to isolated, its great to have a house with no neighbours and nothing around you but this does leave you open to being burgled. A lot of the crime is petty like wood being taken from gardens, also tools etc, but this is still theft. There is still a large percentage of people in Bulgaria that have nothing, so the temptation of robbing you is very high. Also organised crime is high. Last winter I would say was the worst year that I heard about for burglaries in villages, most of them though were houses in isolated places, but not all. Certain parts of Bulgaria have no work and a lot of people from these areas will travel to the resorts in the summer and winter for work, this year far less people were employed on the coast which means a lot of people that would have money during the summer to take them through the winter did not earn this. As in any country in the world recession hitting hard crime rate increases. So just take a little time to have a look around the whole area that you intend to buy in, yes you might fall in love with a house, but if the whole area is not good you could end up with more problems than you thought.

Some good tips here Fletch which I think will be helpful to any other who are considering buying a property in a village I know that we all seem to think that the quieter the better but as you have said sometimes its not

Thanks for the write up Fletch.
l have now bought a detach bungalow on an acre of land with open fields for miles.The village is a population of 100 and l am at the edge of this small village.lt is 7km kilo's away from elhovo on the western southern side of the town.
But l do have 3 dogs and wish to open up a dog kennel.Would this put off the burglars

No I voted and I'm safe and sound but for how long? that is the question

snail wrote:

Thanks for the write up Fletch.
l have now bought a detach bungalow on an acre of land with open fields for miles.The village is a population of 100 and l am at the edge of this small village.lt is 7km kilo's away from elhovo on the western southern side of the town.
But l do have 3 dogs and wish to open up a dog kennel.Would this put off the burglars

A friend of mine lived in a rural situation and kept several geese as protection, geese can be pretty nasty things if they don't like someone and so he felt safe. One day, much to his surprise he did have a burglary at his house and guess what . . . . they stole his geese as well!!!

::

citman. wrote:

Been burgled twice, also had electric cable stolen twice. Was burgled the first time when our place was only semi-secure, they broke the padlocks off our security shutters and nicked a few bits such as fridge freezer and washer. The second time they broke in through new metal doors (which they tried to remove and take with them) they removed the old flimsy window grills and stole several new windows and various other items, even tried removing the new bathroom sink!
We now have new doors and windows, new bars on the windows, a monitored alarm system (with battery back up) and the security company visit at least twice a day. All this didn't stop the thieving gits from taking our electric cable twice, this is now buried underground and set in concrete. We are now waiting to see what our imaginative thieves steal next. The best thing that we ever did was to ensure that we used a good insurance company!
The stupid thing is that despite all the problems we still love our house and the village and even with the benefit of hindsight would still buy there.

I like you thinking here citman you are trying to keep one step in front of the bu**s but you have to give it em they are certainly very industrious when it comes to theft :Headbang:I think the boys in blue should employ them as advisor's