A Bulgarian national and a Pakistan national have been arrested over helping foreign nationals stay in Bulgaria illegally, according to the Interior Ministry.
The fifth regional police department in Sofia, together with Border Police unit of the Interior, started working on the case on December 26.
On December 26, at a parking lot in Sofia’s Suhata Reka district, police officers found twelve foreign nationals, Afghan and Pakistan nationals, according to their documents, in a parked Mitsubishi Pajero.
Six of them presented no ID documents and said that they had crossed the Bulgarian-Turkish border illegally the day before.
The other six people showed temporary residence documents for different accommodation centers across the country, none of which was based in Sofia.
During the investigation, police officers and border police officers tracked down a 35-year-old Pakistan national, who had been denied refugee status and was staying on the territory of the northwestern municipality of Lom, and a 35-year-old Bulgarian woman, who was a resident of the town.
They were found to have helped the twelve foreign nationals, who had crossed the border, stay in Bulgaria illegally, profiting financially from the deal.
The two were shown to have organized the transportation of the twelve foreigners to Sofia and to their places of accommodation and to also have arranged their transportation to the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
On January 20, the Bulgarian national and the Pakistan national were detained at the fifth regional police department in Sofia for a period of up to 24 hours.
The two were charged under Art.281 of the Penal Code.
The Pakistan national was charged under Art.316 in connection with Art.308, Para. 2 of the Penal Code for presenting a forged Pakistani passport to the police.
The two were remanded in custody for a period of up to 72 hours.