2 Afghans Caught on River Island on Bulgarian-Turkish Border

Illegal immigrants are seen in a detention center in Kyprinos, in the region of Evros, at the Greek-Turkish borders, on 05 November 2010. EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria's border police have detained two Afghan nationals on an island in the Maritsa River along the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

The two men aged 35 and 27 were spotted by a local who alerted the authorities. The Maritsa island is located close to the point where the borders of Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece come together.

According to the stories of the two citizens of Afghanistan, they were coming from Greece where one of them resided for 1.5 years and the other one for six months.

They told the Bulgarian border police had no jobs and nowhere to live in Greece so they decided to go back to Afghanistan via Turkey. They stole a boat and tried to cross the Maritsa River but the boat got damaged and they made it to the island where they were caught thinking it was Turkish territory.

Their story is supported by the fact that the police found in one of them a note from the court in the Greek town of Orestiada allowing him to leave the country.

The Bulgarian police from the border town of Svilengrad have contacted the Greek border police over the case. The two Afghans remain in custody.

Northeastern Greece as the closest part of the Schengen Area to the Middle East has been the major target of illegal immigrants trying to make it to Western Europe by crossing from Turkey through the Maritsa River, which has necessitated the EU border control agency Frontex to send a special mission to police the Greek-Turkish border.

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