Bojidar Loukarsky told reporters Thursday that Bulgaria bore no responsibility if its exports had ended up in the hands of non-state actors including Syrian armed opposition groups.
“Neither the (economy) ministry (which regulates the arms trade) nor the state are to blame for Bulgarian arms ending up in ill-wishers’ hands in Syria (or) Iraq,” Loukarsky said.
Loukarsky called on the Bulgarian intelligence agencies to investigate how the arms ended up in conflict areas.
The recent OCCRP / BIRN investigation found that, since 2011, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia and Romania approved large-scale exports of weapons and ammunition to four Middle Eastern states, including Saudi Arabia, who are major sponsors of Syrian rebel groups.
At least some of the weapons ended up in the hands of rebel groups, including Islamists, who are accused of serious rights abuses.
Legal and rights experts say the sales were likely illegal because the exporting countries failed to mitigate the risk of weapons being diverted from their intended customers, foreign governments, to armed groups.
