Sixty servicemen from Bulgaria's land forces are continuing to assist border police in guarding the state border with Greece in the area of the Kulata checkpoint.

Bulgaria deployed military personnel to the border area after two groups of illegal immigrants had been detained over the weekend.

A total of 96 people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan were detained as they attempted to cross from Greece into Bulgaria.

The first group consisting of forty people was detained immediately upon entering Bulgaria, while the remaining 56, who were hiding in a freight train on route from Greece to Bulgaria, were stopped several hours later.

The bigger group has already been returned to Greece, while the readmission of the first one is being arranged.

The troops have been dispatched to the area to carry out tasks according to the preliminary devised plan for joint action of the interior and defence ministries which was activated on Saturday.

They have been conducting patrols (both on foot and mechanised ones), observation posts and maintaining forces for rapid deployment to critical areas.

So far, they have conducted thirty mechanised patrols, 26 patrols on foot and twelve observation posts, the defence ministry informed on Monday.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov convened extraordinary meeting in Blagoevgrad on Sunday which was attended among others by Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova, the director of the interior ministry's Border Police General Directorate, the mayors of Blagoevgrad, Sandanski and Petrich.

Borisov assured that the border had not been breached and that Bulgaria managed to achieve one of swiftest readmission of refugees in the EU.

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