Fugitive trainer Stamenov detained after Daily Maverick exposé

Personal trainer Stanislav Stamenov, who is wanted for drug trafficking in Romania, has been arrested – a month after Daily Maverick exposed that he is a fugitive.

National Police Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe confirmed his arrest on Friday, 27 February 2026. No further details about it were immediately clear.

These will be included once they are received.

Fugitive in Cape Town

Stamenov is originally from Bulgaria.

He has been the subject of an Interpol [international police organisation] “red notice”, which calls for police worldwide to provisionally arrest a listed person.

The Romanian police website said that, in relation to Stamenov, a court in Bucharest had issued a warrant for the execution of a 16-year jail sentence dating back to 2013 “for committing the offence of high-risk drug trafficking”.

On 26 January 2026, Daily Maverick revealed that Stamenov was wanted by Romania while offering his services at the Virgin Active gym in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Constantia.

He had used the name Stan Stamenov, and a photograph advertising his personal training had included a photograph of him that roughly matched one on the Interpol red notice.

Earlier this week, Daily Maverick reported that Virgin Active had cut ties with Stamenov.

Read more: Virgin Active cuts ties with Interpol-wanted trainer as SAPS remain silent

Virgin Active’s Head of Customer Service, Jacqui Walter, had also acknowledged that it was working with the police.

“We can also confirm that the matter has been reported to the South African Police Service [SAPS] and is currently with the authorities,” she said. “Virgin Active is cooperating fully as and when required.”

Constantia killing links

Stamenov’s full name previously cropped up because he had been a bodyguard of Krasimir Kamenov, also originally from Bulgaria, who was murdered in May 2023.

He was shot dead along with his wife, Gergana, and two of their employees in his home in Constantia (the suburb where Stamenov offered personal training at the Virgin Active gym).

Read more: Interpol on the hunt for Bulgarian criminal suspects ‘linked’ to SA and web of global organised crime

That year, 2023, it was reported that Stamenov was probably in Cape Town.

At the time, the police told Daily Maverick that the matter formed part of an ongoing investigation that was at “an advanced and sensitive stage”.

But nothing else about Stamenov surfaced publicly until Daily Maverick established in January 2026 that he was offering his personal training services at the Virgin Active in Constantia. DM