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.