site.btaUPDATED Border Police Detain 10 People Involved in Migrant Trafficking in Burgas Area

Ten people involved in migrant trafficking have been detained during a Border Police operation in the area of Burgas, the Director of the General Directorate Border Police, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, told bTV on Wednesday, adding that their number may go up. The operation is supervised by the District Prosecution Office of Burgas, he specified.

In his words, the case involves a very active organized crime group. "The group has clear hierarchical levels: a leader, assistants, executors," he noted, adding that this is the third such group that the Border Police have busted in the last four months. The General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime has busted two other groups.

"The migrant pressure is currently curbed. This does not mean that it has stopped. We have reduced it manifold," Zlatanov said. "There was a 50% increase this summer compared to the previous one," he noted, adding that the comparison is done on a seasonal basis.

"The summer months of last year were the toughest in the last ten years. We had a record high every day, with up to 1,500 border crossing attempts daily," he added.

Zlatanov said that migrant trafficking was at a ten year low in the past autumn and winter. "This is the main indicator of the state we are in. It gives us grounds to say that the migrant pressure is currently under control," Zlatanov said.

At a news briefing later on Wednesday, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said that other persons involved in the crime group will be arrested. It was very active in the last several months, working across Bulgaria but mainly in Burgas Region. The group was under surveillance.

The group used various routes to get the migrants into Burgas Region. "We have gathered enough data on who had what role in this group: leader, helpers, logisticians," Stoyanov said. The group's leader is among the ten persons already arrested; he has a criminal record. There currently is on information about employees of Interior Ministry structures being involved, the Minister added.