SOFIA: Bulgarian authorities busted a migrants smuggling channel through the border with Turkey in an operation realised in cooperation among the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the press office of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
Authorities detained the perpetrator, who is a Bulgarian national with initials G.I., a border police officer with the Border Police Directorate – Elhovo working at the Lesovo border checkpoint.
According to initial information, at around 6 p.m. on May 23, 2015, the detained border police officer illegally transported two Iraqi nationals through the Bulgarian border. The border police officer used his personal vehicle, while the two illegal migrants were hidden in the back side of the car under insulation materials.
The border police officer and the two migrants were detained and put under arrest.
Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security (SANS) also presented information about the case.
A border police officer working at the Lesovo border checkpoint and two Iraqi nationals were detained on Saturday, May 23, in a joint operation of the SANS and the Ministry of Interior, which was carried out under the supervision of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Yambol.
The operation is part of the implementation of joint measures of SANS, the Ministry of Interior, and the Prosecutor’s Office aimed at neutralising the attempts at smuggling foreign nationals into and out of the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, the SANS press centre announced.
At about 6:00 p.m. on May 23 the above-mentioned border police officer smuggled two Iraqi citizens out of Turkey into Bulgaria through the Lesovo border checkpoint without having the required permission.
The border police officer used his own car, hiding the foreigners in its back part.
The three detained individuals were questioned.
Charges were pressed against the border police officer on May 24 on the strength of a decree of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Elhovo.
