Wanted Bulgarian organised crime figure Krasimir Kamenov was gunned down last month in his home in the upmarket suburb of Constantia, Cape Town, alongside his wife, Gergana and their bodyguard and nanny, who are yet to be identified.
The incident, believed to have been a hit related to Kamenov’s involvement in the Bulgarian underworld, took place at about 8.20am.
It is understood the deceased were handcuffed behind their backs, apart from Kamenov, who was loosely cable-tied and shot at point-blank range while lying on the floor.
The assassins used a 9mm firearm thought to have been fitted with a silencer.
No arrests have been made.
Their murders bore a striking resemblance to those of the Kamenovs’ “friends” and fellow Bulgarians Angelo Dimov and Nessie Peeva, who were killed similarly in their home in Bergvliet, Cape Town, in 2018, just a few kilometres from where Kamenov lived.
TimesLIVE Investigations interviewed the Kamenovs last April, probing them about underworld figures as part of a podcast series, Cape of Cocaine, which delved into the Bulgarian mafia and South Africa's part in the global cocaine trade.
At the time, Kamenov was known to TimesLIVE Investigations as being a senior figure in Bulgarian organised crime in South Africa.
He said Dimov helped him “to do some legal things”.
“He helped me with red tape here, but after that I used some other guy because he’s not competent to do this,” he said.
Kamenov said Dimov was involved in drug trafficking and that he was of a “different class” to him.
“What kind of work can I have with this guy? We’re not comparable. These guys are not on my level financially to deal with me on these things. What am I going to get from that? I’m well-off compared with these guys, all of them,” he said.
“Most of them are criminals. Let’s be honest, most of them are criminals,” he said, referring to Dimov and his associates.
“These guys are involved in credit cards and narcotics, nothing else. Bulgarians are not big in narcotics, they can only be servants to somebody else. There is a South African behind this,” he said.
Dimitrova said she and Nessie shared the same gynaecologist and their children were born a few months apart.
The interview with the Kamenovs is the last known interview recorded with them.
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