diff --git a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_ble/_manager.py b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_ble/_manager.py
index 367c544e..9e863561 100644
--- a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_ble/_manager.py
+++ b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_ble/_manager.py
@@ -227,6 +227,35 @@ class BLEManager(BaseBluetoothManager):
                     'Error while disconnecting from %s: %s', conn.device.address, e
                 )
 
+    def _dbus_disconnect(self, device: BLEDevice):
+        """
+        Disconnect from a device using the DBus API (only available on Linux).
+        This may be required if there is an active connection to the device that is not owned by the
+        """
+        entity = self._cache.get(device.address)
+        assert entity, f'Unknown device: "{device.address}"'
+        path = device.details.get('path')
+        assert path, f'The device "{device.address}" has no reported system path'
+        assert path.startswith('/org/bluez/'), (
+            f'The device "{device.address}" is not a BlueZ device. Programmatic '
+            'system disconnection is only supported on Linux'
+        )
+
+        try:
+            import pydbus
+
+            bus = pydbus.SystemBus()
+            dbus_device = bus.get('org.bluez', path)
+            dbus_device.Disconnect()
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise AssertionError(
+                f'Could not disconnect from {device.address}: {e}'
+            ) from e
+
+        if entity.connected:
+            entity.connected = False
+            self.notify(BluetoothDeviceDisconnectedEvent, entity)
+
     @override
     def connect(
         self,
@@ -279,7 +308,11 @@ class BLEManager(BaseBluetoothManager):
 
         # Check if there are any active connections
         connection = self._connections.get(dev.address, None)
-        assert connection, f'No active connections to the device {device} were found'
+        if not connection:
+            # If there are no active connections in this process, try to
+            # disconnect through the DBus API
+            self._dbus_disconnect(dev)
+            return
 
         # Set the close event and wait for any connection thread to terminate
         if connection.close_event:
diff --git a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_plugin.py b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_plugin.py
index 104a3105..6a17a582 100644
--- a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_plugin.py
+++ b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/_plugin.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ class BluetoothPlugin(RunnablePlugin, EnumSwitchEntityManager):
         * **bleak** (``pip install bleak``)
         * **bluetooth-numbers** (``pip install bluetooth-numbers``)
         * **TheengsDecoder** (``pip install TheengsDecoder``)
+        * **pydbus** (``pip install pydbus``)
         * **pybluez** (``pip install git+https://github.com/pybluez/pybluez``)
         * **PyOBEX** (``pip install git+https://github.com/BlackLight/PyOBEX``)
 
diff --git a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/manifest.yaml b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/manifest.yaml
index ccd60db4..17937ad9 100644
--- a/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/manifest.yaml
+++ b/platypush/plugins/bluetooth/manifest.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ manifest:
     - bleak
     - bluetooth-numbers
     - TheengsDecoder
+    - pydbus
     - git+https://github.com/pybluez/pybluez
     - git+https://github.com/BlackLight/PyOBEX
   package: platypush.plugins.bluetooth
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 83dc025a..03510394 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@ setup(
             'bleak',
             'bluetooth-numbers',
             'TheengsDecoder',
+            'pydbus',
             'pybluez @ https://github.com/pybluez/pybluez/tarball/master',
             'PyOBEX @ https://github.com/BlackLight/PyOBEX/tarball/master',
         ],