The alleged murder-for-hire group arrested in Bulgaria on July 23 2010 was involved in a plot to assassinate Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa said on July 25.
 
The newspaper claimed that about six or seven months ago, United States services warned their Bulgarian counterparts of a plot against Borissov, which according to the daily involved "disgruntled businessman".
 
Borissov’s administration, in power since July 2009, has initiated a series of high-profile arrests of groups allegedly involved in organised crime, actions acknowledged in a recent European Commission report on the state of Bulgaria’s fight against organised crime and corruption.
 
The July 23 arrests were part of an operation codenamed "Killers".
 
Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told a news conference that there was evidence that each of the five people arrested in the "Killers" operation had been involved in various murders within Bulgaria. Automatic rifles and large amounts of ammunition were seized during the operation.
 
Media reports linked the group to the murder of Yuri Galev, a Samokov town councillor and football club boss who had been involved in various controversies.
 
Among those arrested was Petar Stoyanov, a senior figure in the world of sumo wrestling in Bulgaria.
 
Borissov said on July 24 that there were a wide range of possible motives for the murder of Galev, including competition in the illegal drugs market, prostitution market, illegal timber business and interests in the tourism industry.
 
According to daily Dnevnik, sources familiar with anti-crime operations rejected the claim that there had been a tip-off about a plot to kill Borissov.