site.btaOver 900 Pre-trial Proceedings for Drugs, Illegal Migration Instituted in April

Between April 1 and 30, a total of 771 pre-trial proceedings have been instituted against organised criminal groups and individuals in connection with narcotic drugs producing, processing, acquiring, holding and distributing, and 153 pre-trial proceedings have been initiated for human trafficking and illegal migration, show figures of an analysis of the specialized inter-departmental unit between the prosecution service and the Interior Ministry for facilitating the investigation under pre-trial proceedings related to narcotics and illegal migration, the prosecution service said on Thursday.

A total of 505 specialized police operations were carried out in April 2024 to counter illegal migration and 462 operations to counter drug-related offences.

During the past month, law-enforcers detected 8 drug-producing labs and/or narcotic plantations. A total of 875 arrests were made.

In one of the cases, nearly 403 kg of heroin were discovered during an inspection of a truck entering from Turkiye through the Kapitan Andreevo border control check point on April 20. In mid-April, a specialised operation was also conducted to counter drug-related offences in areas around schools in Sofia.

A total of 266 illegally staying third-country nationals have been detained, most of them by the Regional Directorates of the Interior Ministry in Sofia (88), Stara Zagora (55) and Plovdiv (51).

A total of 358 court instruments in connection with drug-related offences and 134 court instruments in connection with cross-border human trafficking became enforceable between April 1 and 30, 2024.