The three Syrians detained for the crash in Burgas have been remanded in custody

All three Syrians detained for the tragedy in Burgas remain in custody. Today, the accomplices of the driver Omar, in the trafficking of migrants, also appeared in court. Before the magistrates they expressed regret for what had happened and admitted that they had done it for money. The prosecution described their scheme as well-organised and expressed suspicion that this was not their first attempt to smuggle refugees.

Each of the participants in the migrant smuggling scheme had their own role. The Syrian Omar was driving the bus that killed the two police officers. His other two accomplices were responsible for the exact behavior of the migrants on the bus, its technical condition and the routes it was supposed to take. The prosecution described the scheme as extremely elaborate. The court's reasoning for imposing the most severe measure was the audacity with which the crime was committed and the attempt of the participants to abscond.

According to prosecutors, the "brains" of the migrant trafficking scheme was 49-year-old Abdullah, who had good technical knowledge, his own company and finances.

"He is the older of the two, he provided the financing, he himself bought the ill-fated bus, he gave it into the hands of the driver," said Hristo Hristov, supervising prosecutor.

"This is the prosecution's case. Our thesis is different from this. I can't comment on it right now, it's different from the accusation. - Do you know me? - Yes, I know her. Thank you for your attention," said Nedialka Markova, Abdullah's lawyer.

Omar, whose age is in doubt, is known to have been driving the bus that killed the two Burgas police officers, while 18-year-old Ahmad was directly responsible for the migrants on the bus.

"He was shouting at them to keep quiet and lower themselves so as not to be noticed. In fact, they were perched on the floor of the bus so as not to be visible from the outside. When someone looked at the bus to see if it was full of passengers, it actually looked empty," explained Hristo Hristov, the supervising prosecutor.

Only Omar, the driver, has a service driver; the other two accused have lawyers hired by their relatives. However, the defense attorneys declined to give details. All three defendants told the court that they participated in the trafficking scheme because they needed money.

"For money - with the intention to support his parents who are in Turkey so that they can be in Bulgaria," said the lawyer Kamen Kanev, Omar's interim defense attorney.

It emerged during the hearing that before Thursday morning's tragic incident, those involved in the scheme had made a survey of the route.

"This is a very well-organized way in advance, which we assume was done in this way in transitional periods of time, because they are not very recent in the country, a long enough period to be limited," said Maria Markova, head of the District Prosecutor's Office - Burgas.

The investigation also shows that during the chase, neither of the two Syrians tried to stop the driver Omar, and even encouraged him.

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