Bulgarian authorities detained 495 illegally residing foreigners and sixteen human smugglers during a large-scale joint operation of the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for Security (DANS) carried across the country.

Following the operation, actions have been taken against 525 people accused of committing crimes against the political rights of citizens.

A total of 2749 police officers from all regional departments of the interior ministry across the country participated in the operation.

During the operation, the authorities carried out checks on 2895 sites, 12 820 people and 5987 vehicles, the press service of the interior ministry informs.

In one of the cases, seven foreigners without identity documents, claiming to be Afghan citizens, were detained on Trakia motorway on Friday.

The foreigners, who admitted that they had illegally crossed into Bulgaria, have been sent off to the border.

In another case, a refrigerator truck driven by Turkish citizen attempted to enter Bulgaria at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.

Upon checking the refrigerator compartment of the truck, authorities found 129 foreigners without identity documents.

Among the migrants, who claim to be Syrians, are 38 men, 33 women and 58 children.

The driver of the truck was detained, while the identity of the migrants is being established in Svilengrad.