12 people have been detained for trafficking migrants on the territory of the towns of Plovdiv, Harmanli, Sredets, Burgas and Haskovo, deputy appellate prosecutor Rumen Popov has announced. 22 migrants, who used the traffickers’ services, have also been detained in Sredets as part of the same operation.

The traffickers apprehended include a 30-year old man from Syria considered to be organizer of the trafficking ring. He lives in Plovdiv and has right of residence in the country. According to the authorities, there is evidence he was leader of the trafficking network connected with the incident in which two police officers were killed in Burgas.

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The Syrian had connections to two people in Istanbul who sought out migrants in groups, while he was tasked with organizing their transportation across Bulgaria, for which the migrants paid EUR 3,000 per person.