Israeli police have arrested a 32-year-old resident of Bat Yam on suspicion of involvement in the murder of an Israeli citizen in Bulgaria last month, authorities said.
The victim, 83-year-old Andrey Atanasov, was a longtime former lecturer at the Faculty of Biology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. He was beaten to death in an elevator at the Joliot-Curie metro station in the Bulgarian capital on October 14, 2026.
According to local media reports, Atanasov was found unconscious on October 15 with multiple injuries. He was taken to St. Anna Hospital in Sofia, where he died of his wounds.
After his death, Bulgarian authorities opened a murder investigation overseen by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. Investigators collected surveillance camera footage from the area around the metro station and examined the circumstances of the attack.
Investigators looked into the possibility that the killing stemmed from a personal dispute, with suspicion focusing on a financial disagreement, though the motive was not officially confirmed in initial reports.
Bulgarian police later announced they were searching for a foreign national suspected of involvement in the killing who had fled the country and was declared wanted. The suspect was initially identified as a Greek citizen.
A report citing a Bulgarian newspaper, The Telegraph, and sources in the country's Interior Ministry said the suspect and Atanasov had known each other for years, but their relationship deteriorated after a dispute. The report also claimed the suspect had waited for the former lecturer for two days before carrying out the attack.
While the investigation continued in Bulgaria, detectives from the Ayalon Crime Fighting Unit of the Israel Police's Tel Aviv District worked to locate and arrest the suspect in Israel. The operation was carried out in cooperation with the Operational Coordination Department of the Israel Police Intelligence Division, the International Affairs Department of the State Attorney's Office, and Bulgarian police.
Israeli authorities obtained a provisional arrest warrant for the purpose of extradition. The suspect was arrested on Saturday and is expected to appear before an Israeli court as part of proceedings to extradite him to Bulgarian law enforcement authorities.
