In the saddle, the Bulgarian refugee hunter with an IS bounty on his head
A SELF-styled ‘migrant hunter’ who chases down terrified women and children on horseback has a £38,000 Islamic State bounty on his head.
Tattooed former wrestler Dinko Valev, 29, posted internet videos of himself pursuing migrants who had crossed into Bulgaria from Turkey and war-torn Syria.
But his shameless self-promotion has led IS extremists to offer a $50,000 bounty to anyone who kills him.
Valev was hailed a hero by some Bulgarians after online clips showed him and other armed vigilantes chasing frightened migrants through woodland.
The footage showed women and children forced to cower on the forest floor while the men were made to lie on their stomachs with their hands tied behind their backs. In one film a man can be heard shouting: ‘ Go back to Turkey. No Bulgaria for you.’
Valev defends his actions as a ‘public service’ to Bulgaria, which recorded more than 30,000 migrants crossing its border from Turkey last year. He said he handed over his captives to police. The vigilante called on the Bulgarian government to fund his campaign and his latest social media video showed him in a brand new Mercedes S-Class, a luxury import which would cost at least £73,000 in Bulgaria.
Valev, who was offered £66,000 to take part in a Bulgarian version of Big Brother, said of the sports car: ‘I thank God for giving me the opportunity to buy it. I wish [for] accident-free driving.’ And he thanked his supporters, saying: ‘I love you, because without you this does not work.’
He has previously described his ‘hunts’ – in which he and his gang also chase migrants using armoured vehicles – as ‘sport’.
Human rights groups accused Valev of fanning fears about migration and the Bulgarian government of turning a blind eye to him and other ‘migrant hunters’.
Valev and two others were reportedly arrested earlier this year, but Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov has praised the vigilantes for helping police to round up illegal immigrants.