Bulgarian directorate for combating organised crime and Europol disrupted a migrant smuggling network

An international migrant smuggling network has been dismantled. Ten suspects have been identified, 8 of them have been arrested and two are wanted. The large-scale operation was carried out on 19 September by officers from the Directorate General for Combating Organised Crime (DGCOC) and the Directorate General for Border Police, supported by Europol.

Greek and Romanian police officers were involved in the investigation. The operation was carried out within the framework of a regional task force set up to investigate migrant smuggling networks using Bulgaria as a transit country. The operation disrupted a criminal network for trafficking of migrants from Turkey via Bulgaria and Serbia to Western Southern Europe. The actions lead to 7 arrests, numerous searches and seizures.

The investigation began in early 2023 when Bulgarian authorities discovered migrants smuggled by this network. During the operational actions, it was established that the drivers - Bulgarian, Romanian and Syrian nationals - had coordinated smuggling activities while maintaining contacts with smugglers in Turkey and Greece, as well as in other countries along the route.

According to the information so far, their task was to transport migrants from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to accommodation places located in the area of Sofia, from where they would be taken to the Bulgarian-Serbian border after a short stay. For the "service", the migrants had to deposit between 3,000 and 5,000 euros in Istanbul before being taken across the border between Turkey and Bulgaria.

The transportation was carried out by cars, vans and even trucks. In order to maximise their profits, in one case a truck with 150 migrants was detected driving at high speed with risk to passengers and pedestrians.

Ten participants in the criminal network have been identified and charged, 8 of them have been arrested and the remaining two are wanted.