A major obstacle faced by Bulgaria with respect to kidnappings is that such crimes were controlled by former employees of the Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry, Atanas Atanasov, former head of the National Security Service, told private national bTV channel on October 21 2009.

Atanasov was referring to the kidnapping of university student Roumen Gouninski, son of Roumen Gouninski, a Bulgarian Socialist Party municipal councillor in Pravets. Gouninski was kidnapped just before 8pm on October 19 in Sofia's Studentski Grad borough while walking his dog. The abduction took place in front of a number of witnesses.

Such people [who control kidnappings] have been trained by both ministries," Atanasov said. "We have to check the movements of these people after they leave their positions," he told bTV.

"What worries me is that organised crime groups buy information from the Interior Ministry where control has been neglected," he said.

The ministry was a porous department that leaked information to organised crime groups, he said. "A special law on kidnapping is just part of a package of legal measures aimed at countering serious crimes," he said, referring to Prime Minister Boiko Borissov's idea to pass special legislation on kidnappings.

On the Gouninski case, Atanasov said that so far there were no data that the kidnapping had a political motive. Some media suggested that the kidnapping had to do with Gouninski's father's job as a municipal councillor in Pravets and upcoming mayoral elections there.

"It is a matter of money because kidnapping has become a business enterprise," Atanasov said.

People waging war against such crimes had to have the support of the state but right now they lacked motivation, he said.

Two days after Gouninski's kidnapping, police have still not revealed whether they have made any progress.  Gouninski's father denied a rumour that a one million leva ransom had been demanded.

He said that he owed money to no one, except banks, and that he had not received any threats.