Bulgarian authorities disrupt a migrant smuggling ring, possibly linked to the deaths of 2 Bourgas police officers

Twelve people have been arrested for alleged involvement in a migrant trafficking ring, the prosecutor's office said on September 20. Among those arrested is the alleged leader of the group, who is a Syrian national permanently residing in Bulgaria. He lives in Plovdiv, where he has a legal job and a girlfriend.

There are reports that the bus with illegal migrants that killed two policemen in Bulgaria’s coastal city of Bourgas was part of the disrupted ring. The migrants were recruited in Istanbul and smuggled through the territory of Bulgaria at the cost of 2,000-3,000 euros for the trip.

It is being investigated whether there is evidence of an organised criminal group with a permanent activity of migrant trafficking.

Arrests, searches and seizures have been carried out in several cities of the country within the operation. 22 illegal migrants have been found near the home of a person involved.

The revelations are the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office in the framework of a large-scale operation targeting illegal migration in the territory of several districts. The operation is led by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior in coordination with the General Directorate of National Police.

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Two police officers from the coastal city of Bourgas were killed in the early hours on August 25, 2022, as they tried to stop a bus carrying migrants who had entered Bulgaria illegally.

The incident occurred after the bus refused to stop at two consecutive border police checkpoints in the vicinity of a roundabout.

The two police officers in the car, who tried to obstruct the bus by directly stopping in front of it, were declared dead at the scene.

The bus with Turkish registration plates was transporrting 47 migrants. None of them were injured.

The bus had entered a residential area when the police officers halted their car across the road in front of it. The bus ploughed into the police vehicle and drove over the top of it and smashed into a bus stop.

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