Two armed men wearing masks robbed a DSK Bank branch in Sofia's Dianabad borough at 10.30am on January 13 2010, escaping with 20 000 leva, the Interior Ministry said.

The armed robbers attacked a female employee at the DSK office, part of a residential building. They pulled a gun against her, grabbed her money and fled the scene.

Armed robberies of banks and large stores have intensified over the past month-and-a-half, testing police. So far police have managed to register some success against the robbers.

On December 20 2009 10 suspects thought to have been involved in robberies at different locations were arrested. 

The police operation started on December 18 when three people were arrested who tried to ram the wall of an exchange bureau at the Grozdov Bazar (Grape Market) in Plovdiv. The trio were arrested on the spot.

The wave of robberies started in early December 2009 when in just six days, several million leva changed hands following a series of well-organised and daring armed raids.

The first was on December 10 2009 when a private vault on Sofia's Dondoukov Boulevard was stolen. Between 160 and 190 of the vault's boxes had been opened and emptied by the robbers with losses estimated at hundreds of thousands of leva, if not millions. Police are still trying to find the culprits.

A branch of Fantastico was then robbed of two million leva in Studentski Grad (Student Town) in Sofia late on December 13.

On December 14 2009, two masked and armed men robbed a store in a shopping centre in the western Sofia borough of Lyulin 7. Reportedly, the store sells mobile phones and cards. At gunpoint, a woman was forced to hand over the previous day's proceeds which, according to unconfirmed reports, amounted to 50 000 leva.

The robbery occurred at about 10.30am on December 14. After bagging the cash, the robbers escaped in a vehicle of undisclosed description.

Another robbery took place in the Black Sea resort town of Sveti Vlas. Thieves broke into the city hall building and the premises of the local bank branch, escaping with a metal box and close to 50 000 leva.

On December 15 2009 police managed to arrest three armed men a few minutes after they robbed a store on Sofia's Vassil Levski boulevard.