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Bulgaria closes busy border crossing with Turkey

Sunday, 13 December 2015 6:42 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 13 December 2015 6:42 PM ]

Lorries queuing at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, the main crossing point between Bulgaria and Turkey on December 13, 2015. (AFP photo)

Bulgaria has shut its busy border crossing with Turkey, which is known for notorious activities of human trafficking and smuggling.

The busy Bulgaria-Turkey border crossing at Kapitan Andreevo, which is an important point of entrance to the European Union, would remain closed until further notice.

The closure came after Bulgaria detained some 14 customs officials in an anti-corruption raid on Sunday.

"All customs officers from the morning shift, who control the entries into Bulgaria at the Kapitan Andreevo (border checkpoint) were detained within a probe against contraband," Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) quoted Bulgaria's chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov as saying.

"We apologize to travelers" over the closure, the prosecutor added.

Media reports indicated that a queue of a dozen kilometers long of trucks, waiting to enter Bulgaria, had formed on the Turkish side.

According to Tsatsarov, State Agency for National Security (SANS) conducted about 100 raids in five towns close to the border.

Kapitan Andreevo is the largest and busiest border checkpoint in the Balkans. The crossing is also considered a major crossing point on the route between Europe and the Middle East.

In recent years, Bulgaria has deported hundreds of refugees at its border with Turkey as the poorest country of the European Union grapples with a sharp rise in the number of refugees from non-EU states.

The developments also come as European countries reportedly remain divided over how to deal with refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict-hit zones in the Middle East and Africa.

The influx of asylum seekers into Europe has sparked pro- and anti-refugee sentiments across the continent.

Police forces stop asylum seekers on their way to a refugee center after crossing the Croatian-Slovenian border near Rigonce on October 24, 2015. (AFP)

Leader of several Balkan countries have repeatedly threatened to shut their borders if their northern European Union neighbors refuse to accept refugees.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov recently announced that Balkan nations desired a Europe-wide solution to the crisis, but would not become a "buffer zone" for the tens of thousands of newly-arriving refugees.

Sofia has already started mobilizing hundreds of forces to its border with Turkey to stop trespassing refugees amid ongoing measures elsewhere across Europe to counter the influx.

According to the recent figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 924,140 refugees have reached Europe’s shores so far this year while more than 3,670 people have either died or gone missing in their perilous journey to the continent.

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