Europol: 8 arrested for smuggling migrants across Turkish-Bulgarian border
Bulgarian authorities, supported by Europol, on September 19 dismantled a criminal network smuggling migrants from Türkiye via Bulgaria and Serbia towards Western Southern Europe, Europol said.
The investigation, involving Greek and Romanian authorities, was conducted in the framework of a regional Operational Task Force set up to investigate migrant smuggling networks using Bulgaria as a transit country, the European police co-operation agency said.
There were eight arrests, including one high value target, 11 location searches and confiscations including cash, Hawala accountancy notebooks and documents.
A Romanian citizen found during the searches has been identified as a person wanted by Austria.
Europol said that the investigation was initiated at the beginning of 2023 when Bulgarian authorities found migrants smuggled by this network.
So far, national authorities have detected 15 smuggling incidents.
The smuggling network allegedly facilitated the illegal secondary movements of more than 700 irregular migrants towards other parts of the EU.
The suspected ringleaders, predominantly Syrian nationals, coordinated the smuggling activities while maintaining contacts with smugglers and hawaladars in Turkey and Greece, as well as in other countries along the smuggling route.
The suspects facilitated the transportation of migrants from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to accommodations in the region of Sofia. After a short stay there, they were further transported to the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
Migrants had to pay significant deposits before being taken across the green border between Türkiye and Bulgaria. They paid between 3000 and 5000 euro in Hawala offices in Istanbul and were then smuggled by guides connected to the Turkish members of the criminal network.
Once on Bulgarian territory, the migrants were picked up by drivers of Bulgarian, Romanian and Syrian nationalities, who transported them to accommodations in Sofia. For the transportation, the smuggling network used different vehicles such as cars, vans and even lorries.
In one case, the suspects transported 150 migrants in a lorry, Europol said.
“Criminals use this modus operandi to maximise their profits when the demand for smuggling services is high,” the agency said.
In this particular case, drivers transported the migrants while driving at high speed, to escape police checks.
This dangerous modus operandi puts the lives of migrants and bystanders at great risk, Europol said.
(Archive photo: Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry)
Please support The Sofia Globe’s independent journalism by becoming a subscriber to our page on Patreon:
