Six top police officials from the police department of Pernik have been dismissed over their poor track record in fighting crime and not coping with work, Interior Ministry's chief secretary Valentin Petrov said on February 21 2008.

The head of Pernik regional police department Dimitar Sheremetev survived the purge, but his deputy Kiril Stoilov, chief inspector Boiko Todorov, head of Pernik's Second Police Station, chief inspectors Robert Petrov and Vladimir Vassev, Ivan Stoilov and Iliya Goergiev, did not.

A day before the dismissals were announced, Pernik was the scene of a street shooting that killed 28-year-old alleged drug dealer Nikolai Hristov, dubbed Hayo.

A week earlier another shooting took place in the town, located just west of capital Sofia. Vassil Stankov, father of alleged gangster Rayko “the blood” Stankov survived an attack. The murder of Rayko Stankov is still not solved.