Bulgarian Minister: Migrants Easily Overcome the Fence along our Border

The Ministry of Defense has become involved in border protection by reinforcing the patrols with additional forces of the Border Police. Everything is coordinated by the Border Police.

This was said by Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev after an inspection of the fence along the border with Turkey. He was accompanied by the Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov.

“We discussed and took measures to fix the roads in the area, - this is very important, as it gives the teams mobility and the opportunity to work. We also provided additional security equipment, including drones; we strengthened the contact with the Turkish side, and today at 14.00 p.m. there is a meeting between the deputy minister of the MFA and directors of different directorates. We count on the help from the Turkish side to be strengthened and to pay attention to the migrant pressure from the Turkish side as well”, added Demerdzhiev.

“We will negotiate to tighten the fence on the Turkish side, as huge numbers of migrants gather there, and when they gather like this, they make the work of our border policemen difficult”, the interior minister added.

“There are places where they are known to pass. Funds have been secured for the breakthroughs, we have planned the activities, and we are starting to implement them.

Migrants most often overcome the fence along our border with Turkey with a ladder. Don't imagine they go through holes in the facility, just put up ladders and in a minute or two, make it through.

The pressure is easing little by little, which means that our measures so far are paying off. All week intensive work has been done with the traffickers - we have declared war on them, but with the full force of the police we have gathered information from all services, made a list of persons engaged in this activity, and all week they have been actively working with them. There is already information leaking out that this disrespected them and made their activities very difficult”, added Demerdzhiev.

"Internal checks are underway. We have collected data from both SANS, and our Internal Security, and all services for cases in which we have doubts that our police officers are involved. Actions will be taken literally in the coming days. There will be changes in personnel, there will also be persons against whom criminal proceedings will be initiated", added Demerdzhiev. "If before, the pressure was: 1,000 people taken back per day, for the last 24 hours they are around 500", added the interior minister.

“The security of the Bulgarian-Turkish border has been reinforced with military personnel, and within a week their number will reach over 500 people. In addition to the Ground Forces, the deployment of officers from the ‘Military Police’ is underway.” This was announced by the Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov to journalists this morning at the Regional Directorate "Border Police" - Elhovo.

Military personnel carry out surveillance and security actions in patrols together with employees of the DG "Border Police". Detention of violators at the border is carried out by the border police. After September 7, "Military Police" officers will be able to carry out independent patrols and they will have powers to detain offenders, explained Minister Stoyanov.

Another specialized formation of military personnel will inspect and restore the obstruction-type engineering facility on the border, if necessary.

Among the primary tasks is the improvement of the road infrastructure in the region before the winter season. Bad roads cause damage to machinery. The military personnel at the border have more than 60 units of specialized equipment, explained the Minister of Defense.

During the working visit, the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Defense inspected a section of the security facility on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. During the inspection of the border, Minister Dimitar Stoyanov also spoke with some of the patrolling military personnel and border policemen.

Due to the increased migrant pressure, the Ground Forces are participating in providing assistance to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in guarding the southern border of Bulgaria from November 1, 2021 with nearly 300 military personnel. Periodically, the formations are rotated, so far a total of 1,559 servicemen have participated in joint patrols with employees of DG Border Police. In addition, in the period from October 29 to December 30, 2021, 25 servicemen from the 55th Engineer Regiment carried out repair and restoration activities on more than 63 km of the engineering installation of an obstructing type along the Bulgarian-Turkish border and the adjacent road.

From August 27, 2022, the Bulgarian army is gradually increasing its participation in the protection of the state border with military personnel with the necessary technical means and transport equipment with increased cross-country ability. Military personnel conduct joint patrols with officers of DG Border Police.

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