Experts are expecting heightened migrant pressure on the Bulgarian border with Turkey in April.

The forecast is based on the analyses of potential risks and information gathered by the security services, Darik radio informs.

At present the refugee flow in the region of Burgas has been put under control.

Around 200-300 illegal migrants are detected daily by the border authorities in the area of Malko Tarnovo, with the main pressure being exerted on the villages of Zvezdets and Novo Panicharevo.

After the agreement reached between the EU and Turkey officially entered into force on Sunday, migrants detained at the Bulgarian border are to be directly returned to Turkey.

Bulgarian border officers say that the agreement has radically changed the situation.

Prior to it, Turkish authorities would load refugees returned from Bulgaria on trucks and transport them to a distance of one kilometer. The refugees would then re-enter Bulgaria.

According to them, refugees would pay EUR 2500 for being smuggled to Germany. There are cases in which migrants would work in Turkey for a year in order to earn money and pay smugglers to transport them to western Europe.

Bulgarian traffickers earn around EUR 100 M for smuggling a migrant through the country.

Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann called for taking measures, including the opening of new registration centres, in order to prevent the shifting of the migrant route from the Western Balkans to Bulgaria.

Faymann has repeatedly warned that with the closure of the Western Balkan route, alternative routes through Bulgaria and Italy will emerge.

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