Photographs of the 12 Croats have been posted on the Internet site of the Bulgarian police.
Croatian Interior Ministry spokesman Zlatko Mehun said in a statement some of the 12 persons reported to the Croatian police today claiming they had nothing to do with the crimes they were accused of in Bulgaria.
The statement read that given the current lack of any legal grounds, the Interior Ministry was not taking any action against the persons in question.
The statement said the Bulgarian police had earlier contacted the Croatian police through Interpol for some information while investigating murders in Bulgaria, and added the Croatian police would continue to investigate and collect data requested by "the colleagues from Bulgaria".
The statement went on to say the Croatian Interior Ministry was confident the Bulgarian police had enough hard evidence showing that the 12 Croatian suspects were responsible for murders in Bulgaria given that procedure was ignored when their photographs and details were posted on the Web site of the Bulgarian police.
Reports of the posted photographs were carried today by some Croatian dailies, which said the Bulgarian police suspected them of five Mafia-style killings in Sofia in which the Croats were reportedly engaged as hitmen in armed clashes between rival mob gangs.