The total number of crimes committed in Bulgaria 2006 was nearly 200 000, National Service Police head Valentin Petrov said.

Crime peak in Bulgaria was between 1989 and 1994, he told private channel bTV.

Statistics showed that crime now reached the levels before the communism regime collapsed in 1989.

The number of vehicle thefts decreased by nearly 30 per cent over the past two years, Petrov said. Property robberies decreased by 27 per cent over the same period.

Co-operation between Finance Ministry, Interior Ministry and Prosecution resulted in a reduction of the number of organised crime structures in the country, according to Petrov.