Bulgarian authorities arrested 18 people on Tuesday (June 3) during a series of raids carried out across five major cities, Europol announced on June 5 in a press release.  

The suspects allegedly smuggled mostly Syrian nationals from Turkey through Greece and Bulgaria, using the Balkans as a key transit route. The migrants were said to have been transported on a variety of vehicles that included trucks, tourist caravans, and cars. 

The passengers were said to have typically paid between 2,000 to 2,500 euros to cross from Syria and then into Turkey, which served as their transit point. After several months of waiting in Turkey, they were charged an additional 5,000 to 6,000 euros to be smuggled into the European Union, said Europol in a press statement.

Vehicles fitted with hidden compartments

Many of the vehicles were reportedly modified with hiding compartments that were patched together in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. Europol described one case where eight people were found hiding in the floor compartments of a caravan in Turkey. These custom-built alterations reportedly allowed the vehicles to travel directly to destination countries without stopping in shelters or transfer points along the way. 

Drivers of the vehicles were directly recruited in Bulgaria, while others, such as in the case of Moldovans, were recruited online, stated Europol.

Falsified documents such as fake driving licences issued in Romania, Greece, and the United Kingdom, as well as fraudulent vehicle registration documents were also used by the suspects, police found, to support their operations.  

The network was said to have relied on the underground Hawala system—an informal way of making payments without banks to move money between Turkey and Bulgaria, Additional transfers were reported to have been made through the payment agency Western Union by an intermediary. 

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Smuggling networks 

Travel along the Balkan route is increasingly dominated by criminal networks that exploit increasingly tightening European Union border policies. Rights groups say that these border restrictions have not stopped migration but have driven it further underground. Migrants are increasingly pushed into more dangerous pathways to circumvent border checks.

The closure of makeshift camps that once dotted the border regions has been replaced with migrants being hidden in private apartments across urban centers.

In this shifting migration landscape, with legal and safer options diminished, migrants are left with few choices but to rely on smugglers to aid their journey.

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