2,500 euros per person for transporting migrants from the Turkish to the Serbian border - Bulgarian authorities disrupt trafficking ring

Bulgaria’s Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime and the Prosecutor’s Office disrupted a migrant trafficking ring.

Charges have been brought against 7 people who are alleged to have participated in an organised crime group that assisted illegal migrants to illegally cross Bulgaria's border with Turkey, and subsequently facilitated their stay in Bulgaria and their transportation to the border with Serbia, from where they could travel to Western Europe.

According to the Prosecutor's Office and the Border Police, the leader of the criminal group is among those arrested.

Six of the accused are in custody for 72 hours, the seventh is also in custody, but on remand for another drug-related pre-trial proceeding. Tomorrow, December 10, the Prosecutor's Office will request that they all be remanded in further detention, said Hristo Krastev, deputy administrative head of the Prosecutor's Office.

For the trafficking of illegal migrants from the Turkish border to the border with Serbia, the traffickers took in 2,500 euros per person, 1,500 of which remained with the head of the criminal group.

All the accused were involved in recruiting people to help migrants cross the border illegally, who would transport them through the interior of the country or provide them with conditions for short-term stay in the country.

Five of those arrested have criminal records ranging from drink-driving and driving without a licence, theft, robbery and drug possession and distribution. In 2019, one of the accused was convicted by the Specialised Criminal Court for involvement in another drug-trafficking ring.

All the accused are Bulgarian citizens.

CDCOC has been working on the trafficking ring since early 2022. Currently, the indictment states that the group has been carrying out the criminal activity since April 2022, but with the collection of additional evidence, it is possible that this period was longer.

Work on the case is ongoing.