Bulgaria cracks down on prominent smuggling ring with eight arrests

Sofia: Smugglers were charging up to €6,000 per head to smuggle migrants to Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Bulgarian law enforcement authorities have arrested eight alleged migrant smugglers in a Europol-coordinated clampdown.

A total of 15 locations were raided on Monday around Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, according to the EU’s law enforcement agency.

It said that at least half of the suspects had been identified as “high-value targets who played a leading role in criminal activities” and that police seized ammunition and weapons in the searches, as well as mobile phones.

An investigation into the matter, handled by Bulgarian, Romanian and Moldovan law enforcement officers, found that the gang allegedly charged between €4,000 to €6,000to smuggle migrants from Turkey into Bulgaria and other European destinations via the Western Balkan route.

The route is one of the main migratory roads into Europe, with nearly 100,000 incidents of illegal crossing into the EU reported in 2023 alone.

Migrants would cross the Turkey-Bulgaria border on foot with “guides” provided by Turkey-based ring members, according to Europol.

At the border, the migrants were picked up at night and, from there, brought to the Bulgaria-Serbia or Bulgaria-Romania border, it said.

Who are the alleged members of the gang?

The alleged leaders of the ring are Syrian and Jordan nationals, the agency said.

Bulgarian nationals were responsible for the logistics, namely finding and purchasing cars used to transport the migrants.

The cars were registered under other individuals’ names in exchange for “a small sum of money”. The drivers were Moldovans, recruited online, according to Europol.

They would communicate with the other members of the gang with disappearing messages on phone apps. The drivers were paid €100 per person transported.