9 Million, 300 Illegally, Cross Bulgaria-Greece Border in 2011

Approximately nine million people have traveled through the four crossing points on the Bulgarian-Greek border, according to data of the Regional Border Police Directorate in Bulgaria's Smolyan.

The number of trans-border travelers between Bulgaria and Greece has thus grown by 1.5 million year-on-year; the total car traffic between the two Balkan neighbors amounted to 3.5 vehicles, shows the data revealed by the head of the Smolyan Border Police Directorate Boyko Bozhkov, as cited by BTA.

The greatest traffic both ways was registered over the summer, Bozhkov explained.

In his words, there has been no massive wave of immigrants trying to cross from Greece into Bulgaria.

A total of 277 illegal immigrants have been captured at the border crossing in from Greece, he indicated. They come primarily from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Especially in 2010, Greece had a serious influx of illegal immigrants from the Middle East but fears that Bulgaria might follow suit have failed to materialize, probably largely because it has failed to join the borderless Schengen Area.

The Bulgarian Border Police have captured a total of 5.8 million packs of cigarettes during contraband busts along the Bulgarian-Greek border, Bozhkov said.

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