Bulgarian Prosecutors Charge Four Police Officers with Migrant Smuggling

Bulgaria’s prosecuting authorities have charged four police offcers with smuggling of irregular migrants across the country’s border.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Rumayana Arnsudiva told reporters on Friday that an investigation of an organized crime group of suspected people smugglers had led the prosecutors to the four police officers.

A separate investigation was launched, which revealed that the four were regularly receiving money from people traffickers to put an umbrella above the smugglers' activity, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

In addition to ensuring protection to people smugglers, the four police officers took part in smuggling operations themselves -  when off duty, according to the prosecutors.

The four police officers, who were employed at Sofia Regional Police Directorate, were detained in police custody for 72 hours on Thursday near Kalotina, the main crossing point on Bulgaria’s border with Serbia.

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