The Sofia city branch of the Prosecutor-General's Office has started 15 pre-trial investigations into kidnapping cases over the past three years, Bulgaria news agency Focus quoted prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov on March 31 2009. None of these have made it to court because police have failed in finding the alleged perpetrators.

Kidnapping once again made headlines in Bulgaria after businessman Kiro Kirov, 70, went missing on March 27 2009.

According to police, Kirov parked his luxury vehicle in the garage of his house in Sofia’s Bankya neighbourhood. His relatives later found it with the doors open. Kirov’s two mobile phones have been switched off since March 27.

Kirov is still missing, with his relatives making contradictory statements, suggesting that something is wrong with Kirov.

At first, his son Ivan Kirov reported him missing but on March 29 he told private national broadcaster Nova Televisia that his father had called him and told him that he was abroad without saying when he was coming back to the country.

Later on, he told Bulgarian-language daily 24 Chassa that his father could be on holiday abroad and the opened door of his vehicle was a result of a burglary attempt which "only coincided with my father's leave".

"You know my father could be on holiday somewhere and we are talking about kidnapping," he said. Nevertheless, police said they were working on several scenarios regarding Kirov's disappearance, one of which was that he had been kidnapped.

Kirov's company, Kirov plc, is a famous name in the construction business in Bulgaria, involved in the import of and sale of excavation and construction equipment.

It has millions of leva in annual turnover, although recently Bulgarian media speculated that the company has been going through a rough time and owed millions to creditors.

The last case of a high-profile kidnapping was the one of Angel Bonchev, former president of Litex Lovech football club. On May 22 2008, he was kidnapped in front of his home in Sofia and was held by the kidnappers for about 50 days. Despite police efforts, his whereabouts remained unknown.

On July 10, Bonchev was released but his wife Kamelia was taken, presumably as a she was to drop a ransom payment. She was released on July 30, a day after Angel Bonchev donated 157 000 euro to the Utre za Vseki foundation, which fights breast cancer. Both continue to refuse talking about the case.