Bulgaria has caught 6400 illegal migrants this year – Interior Ministry
A total of 6400 people have been caught attempting to enter Bulgaria illegally since the start of 2013, according to Interior Ministry chief secretary Svetozar Lazarov, who said that the country had a close to 100 per cent success rate in detaining people coming into the country unlawfully.
Since January 2013, a total of 1200 people had been caught trying to leave Bulgaria illegally, most of them into Serbia, Lazarov told a news conference on October 7.
This year, Bulgaria has seen a large increase in the number of people entering the country illegally, most across the Turkish border, including a large number of refugees fleeing the war in Syria.
Lazarov said that about 40 to 50 per cent of those caught trying to enter Bulgaria illegally were women and 30 per cent had children with them.
He said that Bulgaria was fulfilling the commitments that it had made to the European Union, and the proof of this was how it prevented people who had applied for refugee or humanitarian status and who attempted to leave the country.
Along the Bulgarian – Turkish border, a total of 1200 staff were deployed, with an integrated monitoring system that included two helicopters and other technical resources.