What does the assassination of a Bulgarian mobster in Cape Town tell us about Balkan criminals in South Africa?

In May 2023, Krasimir Kamenov, a notorious Bulgarian mobster, was killed along with his wife at their home in Cape Town, South Africa. Alongside them, two unidentified individuals also lost their lives. While the motive behind the murders is still under investigation, it is worth noting that in the recent past, Kamenov, also known as Kuro, had attracted international attention. He was wanted by INTERPOL on a red notice and stood accused of murdering a Bulgarian police officer.

He was also accused by Bulgaria’s prosecutor general of involvement in a plot aimed at discrediting senior magistrates.¹

His violent death is just the latest in a string of murders and arrests of Bulgarian and Serbian citizens engaged in illicit activity in South Africa. It brings into sharp focus the activities of illicit entrepreneurs from the Balkans as well as vulnerabilities in South Africa’s criminal justice system.

According to Radio Free Europe, Kamenov gained infamy as one of Bulgaria’s most prominent mafia leaders. Rising through the ranks during the turbulent 1990s, he amassed a vast empire of businesses, ranging from legitimate ventures such as fruit markets and parking lots to illicit activities.²

When journalists working for South African media outlet the Daily Maverick questioned whether the South African police were made aware of Kamenov’s presence in the country before his murder, the Bulgarian embassy stated that the relevant authorities were notified of an INTERPOL red notice against him on 6 April 2023.³

Kamenov is not the first Bulgarian to face a violent end in South Africa. In 2018, Angelo Dimov, a Bulgarian who had been arrested in 2008 and 2013 for cloning numerous bank cards to withdraw money fraudulently, was found murdered along with his wife.⁴

Dimov had been apprehended alongside a Serbian accomplice in 2008 and was long suspected of having ties to an international syndicate involved in bank card fraud. The syndicate was believed to operate from the southern suburbs of Cape Town, and Dimov was facing trial at the time of his murder.

Additionally, following a massive seizure of cocaine from a container ship arriving at Saldanha Harbour (105 kilometres north-west of Cape Town) from Latin America in 2021, four Bulgarian nationals were arrested alongside six Burmese crew members.⁵

Assassinations and arrests for fraud and international cocaine trafficking are an indicator of the degree to which organized Bulgarian criminals operate within South Africa. As for the seizure of cocaine, it is worth noting that the Bulgarians were able to move freely in the country thanks to fake documents. They also partnered with other foreign criminal actors and had access to significant amounts of cash. It seems that they were able to rely on local and international networks to move cocaine to and through South Africa in a relatively low-risk manner.

Bulgarians are not the only criminals from South Eastern Europe to operate in South Africa. For example, between 2018 and 2020, the Johannesburg area witnessed a minimum of nine homicides and two attempted ones involving individuals with Serbian affiliations in the realms of organized crime or paramilitary associations.⁶

In 2018 alone, a series of interconnected shootings resulted in the murders of four Serbian nationals.7

Ibid. Close footnote

Speculation arose in the media suggesting that these killings might have been motivated by revenge for the assassination in 2000 of Željko Ražnatović – alias Arkan – a paramilitary leader during wartime in Yugoslavia.

His alleged murderer, Dobrosav Gavrić, fled Serbia in 2006 and travelled with a Bosnian passport before settling in South Africa under the false name Sasa Kovacevic.⁸

In 2011 he was wounded in a shooting in Cape Town in which another Serbian, a nightclub kingpin, was assassinated. Cocaine was found in their vehicle, so South African police took Kovacevic’s fingerprints, revealing his real identity. Gavrić remains behind bars in South Africa, awaiting a final decision on whether he will be sent back to Serbia to serve a 30-year-long prison sentence.9

Ibid. Close footnote

The cases of Kamenov, Gavrić and others from the Balkans show that South Africa is an attractive location for criminals from South Eastern Europe, including for those engaged in cocaine trafficking. It highlights vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system in South Africa that allow such characters to enter the country and enable them to operate freely; moreover, there is scant evidence that the murders cited in this article have been substantively probed.¹⁰

The assassinations in South Africa of key crime figures from the Balkans also shows the market for hitmen in that country.11

Mark Shaw, Hitmen for Hire: Exposing South Africa’s Underworld, Cape Town and Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2017. Close footnote

Criminals from the Balkans are not the only ones attracted to South Africa. In recent years, the country has become a magnet for criminal actors from Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Russia, Italy, Israel and elsewhere. These players are concentrated in major cities, though according to the Global Organized Crime Index, none have complete control over specific markets.¹²

In particular, South African ports are attractive for criminals. They are key hubs for both licit and illicit supply chains, which use similar routes and modalities. The country has witnessed an increase in flows of cocaine from Latin America, especially from Brazil, where Balkan networks have been present for quite some time,13

Chrispin Mwakideu, Edith Kimani Malindi and Elizabeth Shoo, Illicit drugs: Africa’s growing silent crisis, Deutsche Welle, 20 July 2022, https://www.dw.com/en/illicit-drugs-africas-growing-silent-crisis/a-62523326. Close footnote

as well as precursors from India and China. South Africa’s banks are vulnerable to money laundering.14

Mwangi Githahu, SA’s biggest banks face high risk of money laundering and terror funding, Cape Argus, 29 July 2022, https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/sas-biggest-banks-face-high-risk-of-money-laundering-and-terror-funding-f1acd69a-2d30-4e6b-ae58-1f1f36b6c0c8. Close footnote

South Africa is therefore considered a lucrative environment for criminal activity, facilitated both by an active underworld as well as collaborators in the upperworld.15

Nicole McCain, What the murders of 2 Bulgarian men, 5 years apart, tell us about organised crime in South Africa, News24, 3 June 2023, https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/what-the-murders-of-2-bulgarian-men-5-years-apart-tell-us-about-organised-crime-in-south-africa-20230603. Close footnote

Offenders carrying out crimes in South Africa can count on relatively high levels of impunity, even for serious crimes. A recent Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime study has shown that, in 2022 alone, 141 targeted killings took place in South Africa.¹⁶

The number of cases recorded in 2022 did not reach pre-COVID levels, which saw 168 cases in 2017, 211 in 2018 and 168 in 2019, but remains alarmingly high.17

Ibid. Close footnote

This creates a permissive environment for criminals,18

Ibid. Close footnote

although it also suggests that they should watch their backs: the cost of hiring hitmen is relatively cheap.19

Claire Doyen, Contract killings come cheap in South Africa, Mail & Guardian, 27 February 2023, https://mg.co.za/news/2023-02-27-contract-killings-come-cheap-in-south-africa/. Close footnote

The presence of criminal actors from South Eastern Europe in South Africa underscores the need for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to address the threats they pose to security. The recommendations below can help South African authorities better identify where risks arise.

First, enhanced collaboration and information sharing is key. Law enforcement agencies in South Africa should strengthen their collaboration with international counterparts, particularly those in criminal actors’ countries of origin. Sharing information, intelligence and criminal databases is crucial to tracking and apprehending individuals engaged in transnational crime.

In addition, Bulgarian criminals would not decide to operate in South Africa by chance. Under the assumption that stricter penalties and comprehensive investigations can deter criminal activity, priority should be given to thoroughly investigating and prosecuting high-profile cases involving criminal networks from other regions, and particularly from the Balkans.

Third, given the relative ease with which Bulgarian and Serbian criminals have entered the country, South African authorities should enhance border security measures and improve the verification of travellers’ identities and documents. Identifying and detaining individuals wanted by international law enforcement agencies, notably through INTERPOL red notices, is essential to preventing further criminal impunity. It is also relatively straightforward to undertake this work, given that South Africa, Bulgaria and Serbia are all members of INTERPOL.

Notes