Bulgaria is intensifying its investigation into the cause of a fire and explosions at a private company's ammunition storage facility last Friday night, with the company suspecting sabotage.
Foreign news agencies reported on 12 Sep 2026 that Ivan Demerdzhiev, Bulgaria's Interior Minister, revealed authorities are investigating the cause of the fire at EMCO's ammunition warehouse late Friday night, and have not excluded the possibility of external interference.
The fire triggered multiple explosions afterward, but no one was injured. EMCO, a weapons manufacturer supplying arms used by the Ukrainian military against Russia, believes the event was sabotage and rules out human error, though they did not specify who might be behind it.
This latest incident follows a fire and explosions at another EMCO ammunition warehouse in the same area in August.
In a statement, EMCO said the warehouse that caught fire is near the village of Gorni Varpishta in central Bulgaria, about 170 kilometers east of the capital, Sofia. The facility had been inactive for several months and underwent a safety inspection 20 days prior, which found no irregularities.
EMCO referred to similar attacks on several Bulgarian arms manufacturers since 2011, saying the recent event aligns with other sabotage efforts targeting Bulgaria’s military industry.
"As Bulgaria is an EU and NATO member state severely affected by these acts, it must participate in multilateral efforts to prevent and eliminate such attacks," EMCO stated.
EMCO’s owner, Emilian Gebrev, has reportedly been targeted multiple times by Russian intelligence agents, according to Bulgarian prosecutors.
This includes a 2015 poisoning attempt aimed at Gebrev, his son, and another company employee. Subsequently, three Russian men were charged with attempted murder, though the defendants did not appear in court.
Bulgaria is a major arms supplier to Ukraine, which continues to resist Russia’s full-scale invasion that began in 2022.
Although Bulgaria recently suspended government arms shipments to Ukraine, Bulgarian private military companies have continued delivering weapons.
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Source:bbc