Sofia Mobster Shooting Was Assassination Attempt - Ex Partner

Crime boss Zlatomir Ivanov aka Baretata (The Beret, The Barret) was shot Tuesday in broad daylight in the vicinity of the main courtroom building in the Bulgarian capital. Photo by BGNES

The shooting of notorious Bulgarian drug lord Zlatomir Ivanov aka The Beret in downtown Sofia on Tuesday was a downright assassination attempt, according to a former business partner of the victim.

Varna-based businessman Veselin Danov has been positive that the shooting did not aim to intimidate his former partner but to kill him.

Danov has also told TV7 that the shooter may have been already discovered by police.

He further called upon authorities to exert pressure on everyone involved in semi-legal businesses in Bulgaria in order to discover the perpetrator.

"Everyone who is dealing with murky business in the country is being protected by the government," he stated.

Ivanov was shot in broad daylight in the vicinity of the main courtroom building in the Bulgarian capital on Tuesday as he was going there for an appeals hearing in an illegal drugs distribution case against him.

Zlatomir Ivanov was arrested on February 7, 2009, after he turned himself in to Bulgaria's National State Security Agency DANS. He was charged with organizing and leading an organized crime group dealing with drug distribution and murders.

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