Police Search for Clues in Brazen Sofia Robbery

The police in the Bulgarian capital Sofia are searching for a second time Friday morning the crime scene of a brazen armored vehicle robbery.

A group of 3 masked and armed men stole BGN 173 000 from an armored cash transportation vehicle Thursday evening.

The exact amount was announced Friday morning by the chief of Sofia police, Commissar Valeri Yordanov. It was previously reported that the robbers were 5, but Yordanov spoke of 3 assailants. He also said it was not clear if the men were indeed armed as eyewitnesses have claimed.

Around 6:40 pm, the group of criminals approached the armored vehicle, which had stopped near the office of an agency for online payments in Sofia's Slatina district.

They surrounded the car, threatened the driver, and unloaded the armored vehicle. Two other employees were inside it, and, reportedly, did not resist the robbers. No one has been injured in the incident.

The group then made off with the significant amount of cash, having loaded it into their car.

Yordanov blasted already the company providing the armored vehicle services for a number of security breaches and lax rules since none of the employees had a weapon and the vehicle had not been secured.

The investigation has been hurdled by the contradicting witness accounts.

The news came just hours after a similarly brazen robbery was reported from Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas.

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