Police know of other groups in Bulgaria acting like the one broken up in the Plovdiv region, interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told reporters.
"Our job is to spot them and stop them early, before things turn more serious," he said. He did not say whether these other cases have already led to criminal charges or are still being looked into.
He spoke a day after the Plovdiv operation became public on Sunday. The State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the Plovdiv regional police ran the operation, acting on information DANS had gathered. They targeted a group that used pseudo-spiritual rituals and psychoactive substances. Its suspected leader, a Spanish national, has been detained.
The Plovdiv district prosecutor's office is handling the case, opened over possession of high-risk drugs for distribution and growing plants with narcotic content.
Searches turned up mushrooms, bottles of a dark liquid and cactuses of a type that contains psychoactive substances. Tests are still to come. Early reports put the number of potted cactuses in the dozens.
Fourteen Bulgarians linked to the group have been questioned as witnesses. Investigators say members were fed pseudo-spiritual messages and promised physical and mental healing. Police say the leader claimed to hold ancient knowledge and to speak for "higher spirits," using this to influence people around him.
No court has ruled on what kind of group this is. Calling it a "sect" is a media label, not a legal finding.
Demerdzhiev said the Plovdiv case is not a one-off but part of a wider problem. The prosecutor's office is still investigating.
The minister also spoke about the probe into public tenders for road guardrails. It is looking at two things: whether the barriers are safe and properly certified, and how the public money was spent. Files on the money side have already gone to prosecutors.
"We have reason to doubt whether this was done by the book, and whether the guardrails on our roads meet all the requirements," Demerdzhiev said. His claims of political ties to the case are still being checked and have not been confirmed.