The mother of Bulgaria's football star and Manchester United striker, Dimitar Berbatov, had been threatened with abduction for ransom her famous son was to pay.

The threat was sent to her via internet, garnished with slurs about the family, the local "Struma" daily reported.

The mother, Margarita Berbatova, who works as a chief nurse in the hospital of the southern city of Blagoevgrad, immediately notified the Regional Unit for Combatting Organized Crime and filed a claim to find the perpetrator(s).

The anti-mafia police were able in just two days to find details about the IP address from where the message had been sent. The probe revealed that the threat came from the home computer of Blagoevgrad resident, Petar Antonov. It is expected that the Prosecutor's Office will indict him any time now.

During the interrogation, Antonov told the investigators that it was a joke inspired by publications about the football player in local press.

The police are also following a lead that the attack could be possibly related to Berbatova's political affiliation – she is an activist of the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party in Blagoevgrad, along with suspicions this was simply hooliganism.

Police are warning internet forums writers to restrain from such behavior thinking they protected by the anonymity of the internet.