Bulgarian police stop back-to-back migrant transports near Black Sea village

Sofia: Bulgarian border police intercepted two separate vehicles carrying a total of 48 Afghan migrants in the seaside village of Lozenets on consecutive nights, according to reports from a number of national Bulgarian outlets.

Last weekend, Bulgarian border police intercepted two separate groups of Afghan migrants in the seaside village of Lozenets on two consecutive nights.

On Saturday evening, August 23, police attempted to stop a van registered in the city of Ruse at a roadside checkpoint in Lozenets, about 60 kilometers from the Turkish border.

According to the Interior Ministry’s regional directorate, the driver — a 21-year-old Georgian national — ignored police signals, lost control, and collided with two parked cars before abandoning the vehicle and fleeing, according to local media. He was later detained while attempting to leave the area by taxi.

Inside the van, police found 24 Afghan nationals, “most of whom were dehydrated and unconscious,” Bulgarian outlet BTA reported. Emergency responders examined and treated the migrants before transferring them to Bulgaria’s main asylum centre.

Earlier that evening, border police had also stopped a second car suspected of serving as a pilot vehicle for the van. Its driver was taken into custody.

Less than 24 hours later, on Sunday evening, police intercepted another vehicle near Lozenets.

According to BTA, the driver was a Bulgarian national, and the vehicle was again carrying 24 Afghan migrants. Unlike the previous night, there were no reports that the migrants were unconscious or in medical distress.

“This is an everyday occurrence, we apprehend such groups every day and every night,” Bulgarian Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov told bTV on Monday.

Zlatanov explained that the main migration pressure along the Bulgaria-Turkey border is concentrated in the Malko Tarnovo and Rezovo areas. “In many parts of that area, the border between Bulgaria and Turkey is a river. Right now, the water level is very low and migrants are crossing through the river,” he told bTV.

He added that traffickers on the Turkish side are increasingly using drones to monitor Bulgarian patrols. Over the past year, authorities have dismantled more than 15 trafficking groups, some as part of international operations, with smugglers charging between 5,000-20,000 euros per migrant.

Regional outlets such as Telegrafi also reported the case, citing BTA and 24 Chasa. Telegrafi emphasized that “two Georgian men” had been arrested in relation to the Saturday incident and highlighted the migrants’ payments to smugglers.

While some international media condensed the story into a single dramatic incident, Bulgarian sources confirm two separate interceptions near Lozenets on August 23 and 24, each involving 24 Afghan migrants.

The back-to-back operations highlight both the scale of smuggling networks operating along the Black Sea coast and the daily challenges faced by Bulgaria’s border police.