Bulgarian Border Police uncover migrant trafficking ring

This morning, January 31, the Bulgarian Border Police launched an operation on the territory of Sofia and Pernik to disrupt a migrant trafficking ring from the Turkish to the Romanian border.

The criminal activity of the group started after the strengthening of border controls at the Bulgarian-Serbian border.

Officers from the Border Police department in Silistra started working on the case when several attempts to smuggle illegal migrants across the land border with Romania were detected in the area of the district city. Five pre-trial proceedings were initiated and three persons were detained and charged.

Today, Border Police officers, with the assistance of Sofia Directorate of the Interior and the Pernik Police Department, detained three more persons. They recruited migrants mainly in the capital, who had previously entered Bulgaria and registered with the Refugee Agency.

After payment, they assisted their movement through Bulgaria to the land part of the Bulgarian-Romanian border in the region of Silistra. Two other persons are wanted.

Procedural and investigative actions have been carried out, during which mobile phones, a pistol - legally owned and ammunition for which there is no permit for possession and use, a night vision device, a radio, a searchlight and other items and objects relevant to the pre-trial proceedings have been found and seized.

Vehicles used to transport the migrants were also seized.