State takes measures to strengthen security at military industry enterprises and warehouses

The state takes measures for the security of state and private production enterprises of the Bulgarian military-industrial complex, Minister of Economy, Bogdan Bogdanov, said on June 26 after a visit to industrial military manufacturer, VMZ-Sopot.

The reason for the measures were the explosions in the warehouse owned by arms dealer, Emilian Gebrev. This is the second such case in less than a year. It is assumed that it may have been a sabotage.

Physical security will be strengthened, as well as technical means in the enterprises and warehouses, to ensure the safety of workers and the production.

Today, an analysis will be made of where and in which enterprises the critical points are, and tomorrow the conclusions will be communicated as well as the measures that will be taken and where.

"What needs to be known in this case is that there is so far no potential risk to production. It is operating at maximum capacity. What needs to be done is to have a better synchronization between the state and the business. Security measures also need to be updated. It should be known that we are currently operating in a very different situation from what it used to be," Economy Minister, Bogdan Bogdanov, said.

"Where we identify a deficit in terms of security measures, we will take action so as to raise the level of security. Anything related to the signaling equipment, video surveillance, besides the physical security, we will strengthen the police presence in these areas," said Senior Commissioner, Atanas Ilkov, Director of the General Directorate of National Police.

Minister Bogdanov and Chief Commissioner Ilkov will also visit the military industry enterprises in Kazanlak and Tryavna.

Images by BTA

Chief Commissioner, Atanas Ilkov, also said that the investigation into the fire and subsequent explosions near Karnobat had not started. An inspection will be carried out today, but at this stage none of the versions about the causes of the incident is ruled out.

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A fire broke out in a warehouse for materials for the production of defence products owned by Emilian Gebrev. The warehouse is located near the town of Karnobat.

This is the second fire at the arms dealer's warehouse in a year. The previous time was in 2022, when fire broke out in the ammunition storage facility.

No one was injured in the midnight fire, but the warehouse was completely burnt down.

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