A 30-year-old man with a criminal record for drug trafficking and issuing a death threat was shot dead on Friday night, the Interior Ministry's press office reported on Saturday.

Asen Lazarov was found dead at 10.45 p.m. on Friday at the entrance of a block of flats on the Tsar Boris III Boulevard in Sofia.

The man was shot by three bullets, one of which hit him in the neck, and two in the chest.

Lazarov's dead body was found by two girls who had kept him company prior to the accident.

They told the police that somebody had called Lazarov and he had gone outside.

As the man was  absent for quite some time, the girls decided to go and came across his dead body at the block's entrance, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) reported.

A group of police officers and a coroner were immediately dispatched to the location.

Police officers inspected the crime scene and collected evidence.

Pre-trial proceedings are underway on the case.