Owner of Bus That Triggered Bomb Scare at Sofia Airport Released

Bulgarian police have released an Armenian man who took off from Sofia Airport Terminal 1 leaving his minivan parked in front and fueling bomb suspicions.

Artashes Tigranyan was detained on Thursday after returning to Bulgaria.

"We questioned him... and released him, because there is no reason to detain him," Sofia police chief Mladen Marinov told private national NOVA TV station.

Georg Gevorgyan, a second Armenian who was in the minivan together with Tigranyan, is yet to be questioned over the affair.

Separately, Gevorgyan's brother is quoted by mass-circulation daily Trud as saying the two were in Brussels on Tuesday evening and were shocked to see there a news report about the "bomb threat" at Sofia airport.

Police carried out controlled explosions of baggage that was transported in the minivan. Suspicions arose after police dogs were used around the vehicle, with airport employees growing concerned over the long stay of the Belgium-registered van in front of the building.

The dogs' reaction indicated an explosive device might potentially be inside the vehicle, police later made clear.

In the brother's words, Tigranyan and his brother had decided to set up a business with perfumes they had bought in Brussels to sell in Armenia, and Bulgaria was a stop on their way home.

"He [Tigranyan] left the car to fly to Brussels to get some paper from Brussels... to be able to take the ship from Burgas [a Bulgarian Black Sea port]. He bought the ticket go and back [sic!] and today he's back... Because yesterday he heard the news."