site.btaActivity of State Border Protection Group in Godech Restored

The activity of the State Border Defence group in Godech with the Kalotina border police office is restored, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said here on Tuesday. To be restored are all border protection groups and police offices that were closed two years ago, including the police office in Godech. The structure will monitor and protect the Bulgarian-Serbian border in the Godech area.

Attending the event for the group's reopening were Border Police Director Anton Zlatanov, MP Mladen Marinov, and Godech Mayor Radoslav Asenov.

Zlatanov said that the decision to restore the Godech-based border protection group was taken following an analysis of the operational situation at the Kalotina border police office and the necessary actions to improve the organization and optimize the monitoring of the border. The group will consist of 28 officers. Frontex officials too will be on the teams. The Bulgarian-Serbian border is the natural exit for those who have illegally crossed the border and want to reach Western Europe, he commented. A border police office will be unveiled at the Bulgarian-Turkish border as well, Zlatanov said.

Border Police recalls that in 2010, the border police office in Godech was restructured into a state border protection group with the Kalotina border police office. Until 2020, the state border was monitored by two groups in two independent responsibility zones at the Bulgarian-Serbian border. On August 3, 2020, it was decided to merge the two groups into one working at the administrative building of the Kalotina border police office. In September 2023, a proposal was made to restore the structure in Godech.