Police Operation Disrupts Migrant Smuggling Group, Syrian and Turkish Nationals Detained

A specialised police operation was carried out on 14 and 15 April 2026 by officers from the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration at the General Directorate Border Police and the Special Tactical Actions Unit at the Dragoman Regional Border Police Directorate, under the supervision of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office. The operation aimed to neutralise an organised criminal group involved in transporting illegal migrants across Bulgarian territory.

Border police officers detained a 25-year-old Syrian national with a criminal record — a member of the group — along with two Turkish nationals aged 45 and 55, who were driving a lorry with Turkish registration. They were apprehended while attempting to load 11 illegal migrants into the vehicle. The migrants, from Iraq, Morocco and Turkey, were also detained.

Two more Syrian nationals — aged 28, with a criminal record, and 19 — were arrested at addresses in Sofia as part of the same organised criminal group.

During the investigation, items and materials linked to the criminal activity were found and seized.

Under the pre-trial proceedings, supervised by the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, it was established that the group had been operating since November 2025. The migrants were transported by lorry from the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the Bulgarian-Romanian border.

A total of four Syrian nationals have been charged with involvement in migrant trafficking. The leader of the group — a 30-year-old Syrian — has been charged in absentia, as he is being sought under a European Arrest Warrant in connection with a separate investigation into similar criminal activity.

The other three Syrian nationals have been charged with participation in an organised criminal group under Articles 321 and 281 of the Criminal Code and have been detained for 72 hours under a prosecutor’s order. The two Turkish nationals have also been charged under Article 281 and detained for 72 hours.

Work to document the full scope of the group’s activities is ongoing.