THE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS DETAINED AT KULATA BORDER CROSSING WERE FOUND BY MEANS OF HEARTBEAT DETECTOR

The situation at Kulata checkpoint at Bulgaria-Greece border was calm on 29th of May after two groups of illegal migrants were stopped from entering Bulgaria on 27th and 28th of May.

Security at the border has been strengthened: there is a temporary control post at the railway crossing near Kulata checkpoint and several foot patrols.

All vehicles at the checkpoint go through detailed checks, especially lorries and minibuses travelling from Greece to Bulgaria, which delays the traffic through the border.

The two groups of illegal migrants were detained on 27th and 28th of May by the border police units in the town of Petrich. There were no clashes between migrants and the authorities. The first group was detained at the border with Greece and the second group during a check of a freight train arriving from Greece.

The migrants were identified by the means of the “heatbeat” detection system.

Military personnel were deployed to strengthen the security at the border with Greece in accordance with a preliminary devised plan for cooperation between Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior to help border police in guarding the border.

Most of the migrants on the freight train, 56 people, were already returned to Greece. The remaining 40 people will remain in Bulgaria for about a week until the investigation is finalised. There were many women and children in the groups, including 2-3 month old babies and humanitarian aid has been provided for them, including food, milk and everything necessary, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said.

On 28th of May, he convened an extraordinary meeting in the southwestern city of Blagoevgrad in relation to the situation at the Bulgarian-Greek border. The meeting was attended by Bulgaria’s Minister of Interior and the Head of Border Police.

The migrants had each paid traffickers 200 euros per person believing they were being taken into Macedonia, PM Borisov said and added he hoped the traficker would be detained with the help of the Greek authorities. According to him, the situation with the migrants was handled for less than an hour thanks to the good cooperation between the army and the police.