Border police in Calafat, southwestern Romania, found 13 foreign citizens during a truck inspection today who did not have a valid visa or residence permit to travel in the Schengen area, BTA reported, quoted by BNR, citing Agerpres.
According to a statement from the General Inspectorate of Border Police, at around 4:15 this morning, Romanian border police, in cooperation with their Bulgarian colleagues, stopped for inspection near the Calafat-Vidin toll booth a truck registered in Turkey and driven by a 34-year-old Turkish citizen who was transporting metal parts on the Turkey-Netherlands route.
"Since our colleagues found that the safety cord of the cargo compartment had been torn and then "re-attached, carried out additional checks, as a result of which 13 persons without identity documents were found, who claimed to be Syrian and Iraqi citizens," the statement said.
Since the foreigners did not have a valid visa or residence permit to travel to the Schengen area, nor the necessary documentation to justify the purpose of the trip, the relevant persons, the driver and the vehicle were taken over by the Bulgarian authorities with a view to continuing the investigation, the inspectorate informed.