Halfway between Varna & Albena lies the picturesque village of Klimentovo with its orange roofed dwellings each boasting vegetable gardens 'galore' where well cared for flower beds adorn every available verge..woodlands encapsulate the village sheltering its abundance of wildlife.. a stream (the life blood of the community) trickles its way down the small creek on its way to the village square where the eagerly awaiting village pets sit patiently for their daily lap of fresh cold water before embarking on another days adventure.

An idyllic scene you might think reminiscent of your own village or at the very least a village that you may know or have visited here in Bulgaria..a place that attracts the obligatory foreigner who seeks out the quiet life away from the mundane pressures of yesteryear... to engage their fantasies by growing their own vegetables or making wine from their own grapes to creating a garden fit for a gnome..some may even envisage being the village squire.. the list is endless but none the less endearing.

But reality tell us a different story & in the case of Klimentovo it hides the real truth behind its facade with a crime rate in percentage terms equal to any large town, to date it has in the last six months 10 house robberies.. the majority belonging to foreigners..the robbers seem to operate with impunity in their quest to turn this rural retreat into a thieves haven,they leave their victims utterly devastated knowing that someone can enter their property almost at will leaving them helpless & alone with no attempt by the law enforcement agencies to even investigate their plight, The village Mayor seems to be oblivious to what is happening.. or maybe he is just reluctant to get involved ?..The stain left by the thieves on this community is incalculable..who would want crime of this consistency on their doorstep..is it the aim of the robbers to see foreigners vacate their homes for pastures new carrying with them the knowledge that in Bulgaria crime pays ? Some of us have left foreign soil & come to Bulgaria because of rampant crime in our own countries, We hoped & believed we had left it behind but alas that does not seem to be the case.

While writing this posting i have been informed that there has just been another robbery in Klimentovo..an English couple came home to find find their house had been broken into & various items inc cash have been stolen..yet another victim who once had a dream.. only to see that dream smashed into a million pieces !..to all the victims you have my heartfelt sympathy.. as for the Mayor of this community & the contempt shown for its residence..you have helped turn the once peaceful little gem into a thieves paradise & your services should no longer be required. MJC

Well done MJC,!
However,you forgot to mention the following.
Mr Jim Lennon,well known conman,and very suspected ***********,is now resident once again in my village of Klimentovo. Shacked up with the woman who helped him rob both me, and Kath Henderson. Fact folks,not hearsay!
And then of course we have the pleasure of a local bar owner,who,when we had a Fund raising day,for me to help the local animals,decided that the majority of the money raised,was better in his pocket! Plus of course,he insisted on keeping the account book too. He kept 520 leva! A tidy sum,and was destined to help animals,not his greed! Countless requests for the return of the fund has met with a stream of excuses.That happened about a year ago.I am still waiting!
Please note everyone.These 2 characters are both British. So as i said in a pevious posting, (The Bulgarian Dream,I dont think so) We have managed to get some of the dregs of society over here. The way things are happening here,i reckon living in Afghanistan would be a haven of peace and tranquility! Be warned all you would be Migrants to BG!

Dave Smith

I sympathise with the folk of this village, however two comments I would like to make.

Firstly, don't let us warn other foreigners not to come here, when it is the British who are the burglars, let's not even give them the elevated staus of calling them robbers. They are common or garden 'burglars' and it seems they are English!!! Breaking into other English people's homes ...this has nothing to do with being in Bulgaria ...these scum would operate wherever they were. The police and mayor need to be forced into action ...what about the nearest public prosecuter, open to all...all you need to do is get your complaint written out and translated and presented to him or her. A file will be opened and the matter investigated, including one hopes complaints against the efficiency of the mayor, although investigating crime may not be part of his remit ..he should certainly be galvanising the police to get busy.

Secondly broadcast these criminals' names far and wide to all other British and the Bulgarian local folk, get them ostracised, maybe even embarassed although that may not be possible of course.

It is very sad that things have become so bad in one village and is obviously seen as a soft target and it would be really cool if that 'soft' target suddenly bit back.

Good luck with it all.

So anglachanka has inside information that it is the 'English who are robbing the English' well that should make it a mite easier for the police & may i be so bold to say the Mayor as well... Lets assume there are 20 English couples living in the village of Klimentovo and 10 of those couples have been robbed it is quiet obvious that the perpetrators were English and of course we have 10 English (couples) suspects... not hard to work out for even the most inept police force is it ? This is turning out to be an open & shut case even before the police arrive on the scene...coupled with the fact they have 20 suspects from a village population of over 900 well even Clouseau would have been in hes element.

But just a minute wasn't that gypsy (one of many in the village) the one sporting a pair of plus 4s loading hes golf clubs into the back of hes new Lada the same man who only last week did not have 2 stotinkas to rub together..& the one who has just pulled up on hes new motor bike isn't that hes friend ? God what are we thinking about ? We know who the culprits are their English !! MJC

Whoa! Hang on a minute MJC.
There are only 7 of us English who actually do live here in this den of thieves.
One of them,the infamous Thomas James Lennon,is well known for his nafarious ways. I doubt that being a burgler is one of his attributes. His line of attack is with much easier and younger prey! I would welcome him to take me to Court and prove my libel!
As for another of our Countrymen,the ex Bar owner,well he has other fish to fry i guess.
That leaves 5 of us. I dont think the couple who were done over a couple of nights ago did the deed.What would be the point? Insurance claims here,like so many other things,are a joke.
We are now down to 3 of us. Now my good friends around the corner are too busy trying to get their big overweight dogs slimmed down to be bothered about anyone elses problems. His wife dashes around on a bike with the dogs,while he monitors her progress. As he never goes out the gate,he wouldn`t know where anyone lives anyway.
So! I guess its down to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now apart from the fact,that i am up to my ears in dogs and cats,that need a modicom of attention.Despite the fact that i am also very busy trying to sort out the local village animals,and even despite the fact that i am slightly hard up.I am buggered if i am going to set my alarm to go a hunting early morning,in the hope that i can bag a few quid etc.
That i am sorry to say,means that maybe,just maybe,the villager who is now languishing in the Varna nick,just may be the previous perpetrater of the past few clandestine outings here.Along with 4 of his mates! This is a Fact.They have them banged up MJC! Quite who did the latest excursion i know not. But in my defence i can say "
It wasn`t me Guv"

Dave Smith

Hiya folks I have been watching this topic which started off to be very informal and informative which is what this forum is about, however it seems to be developing into a witch hunt :shock:although I would like this topic to continue so I think it would be better for all concerned if we just keep to facts, that is to say not speculation or hearsay.

Good topic [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] so lets not spoil it, and lets respect the opinion of each other so long as it's based on facts .

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OK Ashley,point taken!
Surely you could see that my comments were rather tongue in cheek though.
All that aside,its not nice to be plagued this way,whoever is doing it. I just wish they would move on somewhere else.
That shouldn`t be too long in happening though,its like living in an empty sweet shop now.All the goodies have gone!
All the best.
Dave Smith

Hiya Dave the point I made wasn't directed at any particular person, I was just making it clear to all of you that you should all be careful ? this is a public forum and there are more people visiting this site than are actual members, and if we all start saying things about Joe blogs that is only hearsay then we as a forum would get into some serious trouble too, so as much as I would like sometimes to be able to say certain things about what I believe to be true? I can't [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but please continue I was enjoying this topic all of you

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Might seem obvious but surely a good alarm system is what is needed, and I do believe in Bulgaria that you can use the type that is monitored by a security company so maybe that is the answer, it's the same here in the uk it's just that it's taken for granted just like a car alarm going off nobody notices anymore, so realistically I would say on the scale you have there it’s nothing compared to the uk

I have recently had an alarm system fitted to a house here owned by some English friends who use it for holidays.

It cost 500 leva which includes the fitting of the alarm keypad plus 8 sensors, the monitoring of the alarm and response to any activation for a year, after that it is 30 leva per month. I am the keyholder for them, as obviously they needed someone who resides here permanently, and have been called just once which turned out to be a blip in the new code number we had entered.

The securty guards who would attend if the alarm is activated have a average response time of 4 minutes and are both armed, plus they do nightly patrols to keep an eye on the properties 365 days a year, so not too bad and at least some sort of defence against being broken into.

Well it seems that the persons resonsible for the latest break in here are "
up to date"
when it comes to alarms. They disabled it!Then they switched of the electric too.As it was dark,they must have known something about the property,because they were quite selective in what they took. Obviously my freinds are completely gutted by their experience. At the moment,i am in the process of trying to find a future guard dog for them.OK, we all know that potential thieves do sometimes poison any dogs in order to gain access to places,but where do you stop? Alarms/dogs/barbed wire/armed guards? Unfortunately there doesn`t seem to be a complete answer,if these people want to violate your property,they will overcome anything! I have 4 dogs running around my property 24/7. Because of the spate of burgleries here recently,even my nieghbours have asked me,"
David,please leave your dogs out at night"
. So there is a fear with the locals too! Dogs are a good deterent i feel. At times it must sound like Battersea Dogs Home here in this village,but the barking dogs do give a bit of re-assurance. They are not a lot of good on a metre of chain,but free running dogs do let me sleep easier at night. I also have 4 CCTV camera`s positioned around my place,with Notices back and front. Everyone knows about these in this Village,and i take great pleasure in pointing them out,to all and sundry. I dont really want to go down Tony`s path,and get a gun too,BUT!
Dave Smith

I agree if they are going to break into your property they will, security companies have come under the spot light quite a few times, food for thought.

Hopefully,in the not too distant future,(December time),i will have a right "
headbanger"
here.
He should give them a fright,according to what i have been told about him!
Have a nice day Fletch!
Dave

He takes 1 day to eat a person slow painful death :lol: :lol:

I have read this topic both on here and elsewhere? and to be honest my thoughts are why don't those of you who seem so unhappy in Bg do something about it to make things better :roll:or if that’s not an option then get out of there, life is very fragile and short and you only get one so live it :lol: I have friends out there and they wouldn't want to be anywhere else, so maybe you are just in the wrong place? I have read many stories on the net about Bulgaria and I have to say that 99% of them are positive : D you can also see here that there are more members that are happy with Bulgaria and the Bulgarians than members who are not!! so as I said maybe you have just been unlucky with where you chose to live? it's the same in the uk there is good and bad we will never have a utopia anywhere in the world but we can all do our best to try and help to achieve it :cheers: :cheers: