Bulgarians Involved in Violent Belgium Robbery - Report

The first suspect, who was carrying the gun, is described as around 190cm, heavily-built, with short dark hair and wearing a light coloured sweater, blue work style trousers and dark shoes. Photo by Interpol

Bulgarians have been allegedly involved in a violent robbery of a jewellery store in Belgium's Vlasmark, Interpol has suggested.

Three men are wanted in connection with the robbery in which the shop owner and her husband were left seriously injured.

At around 10am on Monday, June 4, two men walked into the jewellery shop on Vlasmark in Dendermonde where they sold a gold necklace. One of the men identified himself as 'Ivan Stoyshev – Varna', however, he did not provide any supporting documents.

Varna is Bulgaria's largest Black Sea city and the name sounds Bulgarian, even though Stoyshev is not a common surname in the country (unlike Stoychev).

Later the same day, at around 4.30pm, the same two men returned to the store and again offered to sell a gold necklace when one of the men hit the female shop owner, leaving her unconscious on the floor. The second robber then hit her husband and pulled him into the back of the store where he was hit on the head with the butt of a gun.

A third man then entered the shop and the two shop owners and a cleaner who had been in the back of the premises were tied up with tape. A fourth suspect then also entered the shop and stole a large quantity of jewellery, including a unique gold watch set with diamonds and a Napoleon coin.

The first suspect, who was carrying the gun, is described as around 190cm tall, heavily-built, with short dark hair and wearing a light coloured sweater, blue work style trousers and dark shoes, Interpol says.

The second man was around 180cm tall, stocky and with a protruding stomach, very short dark hair and was wearing a dark tracksuit with a 'Puma' logo and light coloured sports shoes.

The third suspect was around 185cm tall, stocky with very short dark hair, wearing glasses with metallic frames, a dark jacket, blue trousers and light coloured shoes. The fourth suspect had blond curly hair (no image available). All the men are believed to be eastern European.