Europol operation: members of crime ring, among whom Moldovans, detained

Chisinau, 21 August /MOLDPRES/ - More members of a crime ring involved in the illegal introduction of migrants in Europe, among whom Moldovans, have been detained within a joint operation of the Bulgarian police with officers of the Departments for Combating the Organized Crime from Moldova and Romania   

According to the police, on 19 August, the Bulgarian authorities arrested eight members of the crime ring. Europol experts, as well as Moldovan and Romanian policemen deployed on the spot backed the Bulgarian authorities in 15 locations which were searched in the region of Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.      

Following these searches, 13 mobile phones, a gun and ammunitions, as well as documents for vehicles dealing with incidents of contraband of migrants from Bulgaria were confiscated.  

The members of the crime ring were collecting up to 6,000 euros per one person and illegally introduced over 130 people from Turkey in Bulgaria and subsequently to other European destinations, on the route of the Western Balkans.    

The main leaders of the crime ring are Syrian and Jordanian citizens, who coordinated the criminal activities with other contrabandists from Turkey and along the route of the Western Balkans. The Bulgarian citizens were in charge of the logistics and the Moldovans were acting as drivers.   

According to the police, since early last April, 17 cases have been documented, in which over 130 illegal migrants were identified. Over 20 drivers were arrested during operations – mainly Moldovan citizens, as well as citizens of Syria and Serbia.