site.bta 79 Illegal Migrants Detained over Holidays One Woman Found Dead

79 Illegal Migrants Detained over Holidays One Woman Found Dead

Rousse/Sofia, January 2 (BTA) - Forty-eight illegal migrants were found in a truck at the Danube bridge border crossing on December 30, the border police said.

A Sofia plated Mercedes truck arrived at around 7.30 pm on December 30 at the border crossing The truck was bound from Plovdiv to Hungary and was transporting chocolate goods. A gas analysis test detected higher CO2 levels in the cargo department and a heartbeat detector tested positive. The customs officers found 48 Iraqi nationals: 22 men, nine women and 17 minors. All were registered with the State Agency for Refugees after crossing separately into Bulgaria from Turkey. The illegal migrants and the two drivers have been detained.

On January 1, the border police in Bourgas detained 31 undocumented aliens.

Twenty-five identified themselves as Afghan nationals, three as Pakistani and three as Somali. A 16-year old Somali boy and a 14-year old Somali girl were diagnosed with frostbite and were taken to hospital.

During interviews it was established that a Somali woman had been left behind. The woman's body was found on Monday some 4 km from the location where the aliens were detained.

The border police established that one of the Afghan nationals had already entered Bulgaria and is suspected of having smuggled the group in the below zero temperatures.