Leaders and participants in a criminal group involved in illegal migration were detained by the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior

In a specialized police operation against illegal migration, carried out by several structures of the Ministry of Interior,16 Bulgarian and foreign citizens, leaders and participants in a criminal group were arrested. The operation was carried out on the territory of Sofia, Targovishte, and the municipality of Breznik on January 27 by officers of the Directorate General for the Prevention of Illegal Migration, the Directorate General for Border Polic,e and the Directorate General for Internal Affairs. The pre-trial proceedings are being conducted by the Directorate General for the Prevention of Illegal Migration under the leadership and supervision of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office.

The operational actions were coordinated by EUROPOL within the framework of the regional operational task force (OTF ITER), established for the purpose of investigating migrant smuggling networks. Investigative actions were also carried out on the territory of Greece in relation to two of the participants in the criminal scheme. During the procedural and investigative actions, 6 homes and offices were searched, where mobile phones and SIM cards, electronic devices, debit cards, receipts for transfers, registration plates of cars used for migrant smuggling and other documents relevant to the proceedings were seized. 7 persons were brought as defendants for an organized criminal group, operating since April 2024 and established for the purpose of smuggling and for a pecuniary purpose (Art. 321, para. 3 of the Criminal Code). Two of them were brought to criminal liability as leaders of the group, and the rest as participants in it.