Wanted drug trafficker Stanislav Stamenov. (Illustrative image: Daily Maverick) Virgin Active no longer has a working relationship with personal trainer Stanislav Stamenov, who is wanted for drug trafficking in Romania.
About a month ago, on 26 January 2026, Daily Maverick revealed that Stamenov was on an international wanted suspects list 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 roughly matched one on the “wanted” notice.
Stamenov is originally from Bulgaria.
His full name previously cropped up because he had been a bodyguard to Krasimir Kamenov, also originally from Bulgaria, who was murdered in May 2023.
Kamenov 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).
That year, 2023, it was reported that Stamenov was probably in Cape Town.
Read more: Interpol-wanted drug trafficker found working at Constantia Virgin Active as a personal trainer
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 no developments were subsequently publicised.
Last month, a few hours after Daily Maverick initially sent questions to Virgin Active about Stamenov and reported that he was a fugitive working there, the gym announced it had suspended him.
Terminated contract and silent cops
It has since severed ties with Stamenov.
On Monday, 23 February 2026, in response to Daily Maverick questions, Virgin Active’s Head of Customer Service, Jacqui Walter, said: “We can confirm that Stan Stamenov’s contract with Virgin Active has been terminated, and he has no further contractual relationship with the company.
“We can also confirm that the matter has been reported to the South African Police Service [SAPS] and is currently with the authorities.
“Virgin Active is cooperating fully as and when required.”
/file/attachments/orphans/Stanislav-Stamenov-as-depicted-on-an-Interpol-red-notice-screegrabbed-on-23-January-2026_579206.jpg "Stanislav Stamenov as depicted on an Interpol red notice screengrabbed on 23 January 2026. (Image: Supplied)")
Daily Maverick sent a query about Stamenov to the national SAPS last month.
Since then, up to Monday, 23 February 2026, Daily Maverick has sent about nine follow-ups trying to get a response on what has happened to him.
No reply from the SAPS was forthcoming.
Without any confirmed information from the police, three main scenarios could now apply to Stamenov:
- Police officers quietly detained him and are simply not providing information to the media.
- Police were aware of his presence in Cape Town and brokered a deal with him (for example, he provided information to them about some matters they were investigating) so that he could remain in the city, or other authorities were aware and made a deal with him, but Daily Maverick’s reporting affected this.
- Stamenov had thought he could get away with living in the city as a fugitive and fled after authorities were alerted and Virgin Active suspended him.
‘Evading jail in Romania’
While the South African police have been quiet about him, officials in another country have not. Earlier this month, on 9 February, the Romanian police service responded to a Daily Maverick query about Stamenov.
It said he was still wanted there “as he is evading the execution of a prison sentence”.
/file/attachments/orphans/Stan-Stamenov-as-shown-on-the-Virgin-Active-site-showing-personal-trainers-in-Constantia_406429.jpg "Stan Stamenov as previously shown on a platform that Virgin Active used to show personal trainers in Constantia. (Image: Supplied)")
As of Tuesday, 24 February 2026, Stamenov remained the subject of an Interpol (international police organisation) “red notice”, which calls for police worldwide to provisionally arrest a listed person.
It was previously reported that his legal issues appeared to date back nearly two decades.
In 2009, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism issued a statement that referred to a man with the same full name as Stamenov.
That statement said that 29 people – “members of an organised criminal group” – were arrested for alleged involvement in “high-risk drug trafficking”.
The Romanian police website said that a court in Bucharest issued the warrant for the execution of a 16-year jail sentence dating back to 2013 “for committing the offence of high-risk drug trafficking”. DM