A specialized police operation, conducted on November 23, neutralized an organized criminal group for migrant trafficking on the territory of Bulgaria. 10 people were charged, two of whom were leaders. During the operation, carried out in cooperation with Europol and the Romanian police, 25 illegal migrants, including women and children, were found in apartments in Sofia. This was announced at a joint briefing by the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Interior.
The operation was conducted under the leadership and supervision of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. It involved officers from the Directorate General for the Prevention and Control of Migrants, the Directorate General for the National Police, the Directorate General for the Border Police, the Directorate General for the Internal Affairs and the National Security Service. At the invitation of the prosecutor's office, representatives of Europol, the Romanian border police and the international organization for combating transnational crime SELEC also participated.
As part of the investigation, searches were carried out at addresses in Sofia and Pernik. In two apartments in the capital, rented by Syrian citizens, a total of 25 illegal migrants from Syria, Iran and Iraq were found, including women and children. Material evidence was seized, including phones, laptops, radios, as well as a sum of money in the amount of about 50,000 euros.
A total of 10 people were brought in as defendants - two as leaders of the group and eight as participants. According to the prosecutor's office, the group was created for a selfish purpose. All the accused have been ordered to be detained for up to 72 hours, and requests have been filed with the Sofia City Court to impose the most severe measure of detention, "detention in custody."
Commissioner Kristiyan Goryanov from the Directorate General for Border Police specified that this is a criminal network in which several organized groups interact and share routes. According to Commissioner Nikolay Spasov from the Directorate General for Border Police, the network has been monitored for a year and a half, with over 30 secondary crimes documented. The organizers of the group are not Bulgarian citizens, and the Bulgarians in the scheme only performed auxiliary functions such as transportation and logistics. Crossing the Bulgarian-Turkish border took place both through the “green border” and through hiding places in trucks and minibuses through the border checkpoint.
The fee for crossing varied from 4,000 to 15,000 euros per person depending on the method of crossing and the final destination, which was most often Germany, Italy or France. A large part of those detained were well known to the authorities with previous criminal activities.