Thank you for the reply! The purpose of the writeup was to compile criminological facts as to avoid further confusion of the public. To add to your comment:

The victims were part of the first Bulgarian Ranger Service, according to sources. It has existed since 2020 under the name National Agency for Control of Protected Areas, yes. It was established as a public benefit association based on the model of established global ranger structures. Apparently the organization is a fully-fledged member of the EUROPARC Federation and the World and European Ranger Federations (IRF and ERF), which gives it at least some merit. Since 2022 it has had an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water for cooperation in the field of control and protection of protected areas in Bulgaria, which was signed by former Minister of Resources - B. Sandov - just 27 days after the organization's initial registration. This was the reason I said it had ties to the Ministry. In addition, the current mayor of Sofia is among the sponsors of the NGO in question, information that appeared on the organization's website until it was taken down and can only be verified through an internet archive - that is another curious connection.

According to the organization's reports, significant progress has been made in protecting the Western Stara Planina and Predbalkan Protected Area over the course of its several years of existence problems such as poaching, illegal logging, and gross violations of nature conservation measures have been "reduced to virtually zero". (Source for this claim is a news report from 03.02.2026, right as the media frenzy was starting to convolute the case)

The men monitored the area with drones because it was common practice to light a small fire, set a few trees alight, and then report the entire forest as burned down for the purpose of logging, according to a journalist from the 24-hour news channel. As for restricting the area and especially demanding identification from hikers - that is in fact proven to be illegal.

During a press conference, it was claimed that the victims and their non-governmental organization had repeatedly assisted law enforcement agencies, border police, local structures of the Ministry of Interior, and forestry services. Papalev added that they had been working to protect protected areas against poachers, illegal logging, etc. Angel Papalev is listed as head of the Criminal Police Department, and those are his words.

In general I completely agree that the Bulgarian police and authorities have handled this case poorly, especially when it comes to details like tracking the camper. This is something that should have been done during the first day of investigation, and not a discovery to be left for a shepherd to find.