Bulgarian police have found 17 irregular migrants in an abandoned building near the city of Yambol, in the country’s southeast, private Darik radio station reported on Saturday.

The migrants – eight men, three women and six children – claimed they were of Afghan origin. None of them carried identity documents.

Police, who detained the people on Friday morning, later sent them to a migrant distribution centre in the nearby town of Elhovo to establish their identity.

More than 1,000 irregular migrants have been detained inside Bulgaria  this year, including 300 in March alone, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.