site.btaSix Indicted for Organized Migrant Trafficking

The Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO) filed an indictment against six people for participation in an organized criminal group trafficking in migrants, the SCPO press service said on Friday.

According to the indictment, the group operated in Bulgaria from the summer of 2017 until April 1, 2022. One of its members, a Syrian national with refugee status, was responsible for recruiting migrants and organizing their transport through the country towards Germany.

The other members of the group were responsible for receiving migrants sent from Turkiye, providing accommodation and food, transporting them through Serbia and Romania to Germany, and arranging vans, trucks and other vehicles. They communicated with each other via mobile applications. In Bulgaria they used Bulgarian telephone numbers, while in Turkiye they also used Iraqi numbers.

According to data from the Bulgarian Interior Ministry and the Prosecution Service, 101 people were detained in August for offences related to illegally crossing the border and unlawfully assisting foreign nationals to reside in or transit through the country in breach of the law, compared with 67 in the previous month. A total of 42 pre-trial proceedings were initiated, compared with 14 in July.