SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria has detained 70 suspected illegal migrants in a bus at parking lot on a highway near the southern city of Sliven early on Sunday and rushed some of them to hospital because of exhaustion, the regional police office said.
Fourteen of the men, who did not have documents but said they were of Afghan origin, were sent to hospital and three will remain under medical observation until they recover, the police said.
Two Romanian citizens, one of whom was the bus driver, were also detained and prosecutors have opened legal proceedings against them.
Bulgaria is situated on a route used by migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan to enter the European Union.
Most do not plan to stay in the bloc’s poorest member state but are looking to move on to richer countries in Western Europe, using elaborate networks of smugglers.
Bulgaria has stepped up checks on its southern border with Turkey as well as across the country in order to combat a growing migrant influx and prove it is capable of properly guarding the European Union’s external border.
Sofia was blocked from entering the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone by Austria and the Netherlands over security and rule-of-law concerns on Dec. 8. The country hopes it will be granted entry next year.
(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Peter Graff)
