Human TraffickingNews

21 foreign citizens, found hidden in a truck loaded with melons

At the Romanian Giurgiu Border Crossing Point, a Ukrainian citizen showed up at the wheel of a road complex to enter the country. The driver was transporting watermelons from a Turkish company to a Ukrainian company, according to the documents accompanying the goods.

Following the preliminary check, the border guards found that the seal affixed to the semi-trailer was broken, which is why they carried out a thorough check on the means of transport.

Thus, on this occasion, in the semi-trailer, twenty-one foreign citizens were discovered hidden.

Following the verifications, it was established that the persons concerned, aged between 14 and 28, came from Syria, Iraq and Palestine. They boarded the means of transport in Bulgaria and were to be transported to Austria with the support of others. The migrants told the border police that together they paid the amount of 6,000 euros to a guide they met in Turkey, in order to reach Western Europe.

The border guards interrupted the journey of the persons concerned, and according to the Romanian-Bulgarian protocol on joint control at the state border crossing, the driver, migrants and means of transport were taken over by the Bulgarian authorities in order to continue investigations and order legal measures