One of the largest migrant smuggling groups in the country has been disrupted

One of the largest criminal groups for migrant smuggling in the country was disrupted. Ten people were arrested today, December 3, in a raid by the Border Police and the State Agency for National Security (SANS). The organiser of the group, who is from Burgas district(Southeastern Bulgaria), is among the arrested.

A report about the criminal group was submitted to the territorial directorate of SANS in Burgas at the end of last year. Since then, the investigators started to monitor the group. During the surveillance, the traffickers have smuggled into Bulgaria 20 groups of illegal migrants from Syria and Afghanistan. For the service, they charged between 2,000 and 8,000 euros per person.

In one year alone, the group generated an income of nearly 800,000 BGN. Until today, when 10 arrests have been made. The organiser, who is from Sredets, has also been detained. He resisted, tried to escape but was arrested.

"They have used every means possible to carry out this kind of criminal activity. They have carried it out through the Bulgarian-Turkish border, through the border crossings using falsified identity documents, and fabricating concealemets in motor vehicles," said Senior Commissioner Stoyan Mandazhiev, Deputy Director of the Border Police.

"The group operated within the territory of Bulgaria, smuggling various profiles of illegal migrants across the country, with their final destination always being Central or Western Europe," added Angel Angelov, head of a department at the Burgas division of SANS.

"The punishment this type of criminal activity, as provided for by the law, is "imprisonment" up to six years. That is a serious intentional crime," said Georgi Chinev, head of the District Prosecutor's Office - Burgas.

Three people have already been charged, one of them is still wanted. Investigators have no evidence that any officials were involved in the criminal group.