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Owner of Bulgaria's Lokomotiv Plovdiv shot dead [Fri Aug 26th, 2005]
Sofia (Reuters) - Georgi Iliev, the owner of Bulgaria's premier league football club, Lokomotiv Plovdiv, was shot dead after they won 1-0 against OFK Belgrade in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.
"Georgi Iliev was shot with one bullet in the chest last night and we are in a process of investigation," Bourgas city police chief Krasimir Petrov told Bulgarian National Television.
The 39-year-old businessman, the head of VAI Holding, was shot while talking on the phone at his restaurant at the Black Sea resort of Slanchev Briag near Bourgas, police said. He was probably killed by a sniper, they added.
The shooting took place just 40 minutes after Iliev had congratulated his players for going through to the first round of the UEFA Cup.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv players were to have joined him in the restaurant to celebrate their victory, local media said.
Scores of people have died in recent years in gangland wars between powerful crime groups which are vying for control of large parts of the country's economy.
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