Organised crime groups involved in migrant smuggling targeted during a large-scale action

The large-scale operation, involving the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the National Police and the Border Police, targeted criminal networks active along the Balkan route. The activities, carried out under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office, were supported by Europol and coordinated with the Turkish, the Serbian authorities, and other partner agencies.

The joint actions took place across Bulgaria and focused on a number of networks smuggling migrants from Türkiye, via Bulgaria, to Serbia and then Western Europe. More than 624 locations, 4202 vehicles, and 7019 persons were checked. The action day on 16 January led to 92 persons charged.

The main organisers of the networks based in Bulgaria, Serbia and Türkiye have created their own national networks of members responsible for the transport and accommodation in their respective countries. The prices for the full smuggling service in larger groups varied between EUR 2000 and 3000 per person. If the migrants were smuggled in a smaller group of 5-6 people, the payments were reaching up to EUR 10 000. Payments for the full trip would be made after the main organiser from Türkiye had confirmed that the migrants had reached the Bulgarian-Serbian border. The main modes of transportation used by the smugglers were vans, campers and buses.