Bulgarian cops arrest seven for death of 18 Afghan migrants found in an abandoned truck

Bulgarian police have arrested seven people in connection with the deathof 18 migrants, including a child, from Afghanistan, said officials on Saturday (February 18), a day after they were found in an abandoned truck outside the capital city of Sofia. According to the initial investigations, the truck was transporting 52 people who were hiding under wooden planks out of which 18 died due to suffocation.

The three arrests made on Saturday were in addition to the previous four detained suspects who are said to be Bulgarians, reported AFP. This incident may be one of the deadliest people smugglings in the country where there has been an uptick in the number of illegal border crossings. Reports suggest that the truck contained a group of Afghans who were coming from Turkeyand were headed for western Europe as Bulgaria serves as a gateway to the 27-nation bloc.

An interior ministry spokesperson told AFP, “I can confirm seven people have been arrested”, while another official reportedly said that the suspected ringleader was among those arrested. The alleged ringleader has a previous record ofsimilar charges and hadreceived a suspended jail sentence of five months for smuggling people.

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On Friday, Bulgarian authorities said that 34 people, including five children, were rescued and rushed to the hospital. The country’s interior ministry also later reported that the truck was transporting timber and carrying illegal migrants hidden in compartments. According to reports, the local residents alerted the police about the vehicle which was found abandoned near the village of Lokorsko, 12 km away from the capital city of Sofia.

The head of the National Investigative Service, Borislav Sarafov, told reporters yesterday, that the migrants had crossed the border with neighbouring Turkeyand hid in the wood for two days before they were moved onto a truck near the city of Yambol in southeastern Bulgaria. Additionally, Health Minister Asen Medzhidiev had also said that there had been “a lack of oxygen to those who were locked in this truck. They were freezing, wet, they have not eaten for several days.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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