Main Directorate

Migratory pressure along the Bulgarian-Turkish border has dropped by 70% compared to the previous year, according to Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, Director of the Main Directorate "Border Police." This announcement followed a meeting with Hans Leitens, the Executive Director of Frontex, who is visiting Bulgaria for the second time in recent months.

The Main Directorate "Border Police" has announced a recruitment drive for 400 new employees. This is part of a larger effort to fill an additional 1,264 positions within the police force that have recently been approved.

The nominee for Bulgaria's new Minister of Internal Affairs, Atanas Ilkov, has stated that his primary focus will be to ensure fair and transparent elections. In a recent interview with BNR, Ilkov emphasized his commitment to meeting public expectations by maintaining public order and overseeing a just electoral process.

President Rumen Radev is set to issue a decree for the appointment of the new interim government, led by Dimitar Glavchev, tomorrow, following a meeting with Glavchev. The acting prime minister presented the composition of his second term cabinet (see bellow), and Radev expressed appreciation for his efforts to reduce political tensions and ensure fair elections.

Today, the army will join efforts to extinguish the fire near Cherni Vrah in the Rila Mountains, which ignited on Thursday at an altitude of over 2,300 meters and has since grown, according to Chief Commissioner Alexander Zhartov, director of the Main Directorate "Fire Safety and Population Protection."

On August 19, a major police operation aimed at dismantling an international migrant trafficking ring operating along the so-called "Western Balkan route" was conducted in the Plovdiv region of Bulgaria, BNT reports. This route spans from Turkey through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania, ultimately reaching Western Europe.

Since the beginning of 2024, five people have died and 192 have been injured in 323 traffic accidents involving electric scooter drivers, according to the Main Directorate of the "National Police" of the Ministry of the Interior.

A large fire is burning next to the Struma highway, with flames breaking out between the villages of Mikrevo and Kamenitsa in the municipality of Strumiani, according to BNT. Instead of dispatching two teams from the Sandanski fire department, additional firefighters and forest officials are heading to the scene.

An ancient sarcophagus from the Roman era was accidentally discovered on the beach near the Varna resort of Sts Constantine and Helena, as reported by the Ministry of the Interior. A former policeman on holiday in the area noticed the sarcophagus and reported it to the Fifth Regional Department-Varna. The unattended artifact was located near a newly built but still non-operational complex.

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, Evelin Banev, known as "Brendo", who had been internationally wanted, surrendered voluntarily. The police are set to hand him over to the Main Directorate "Execution of Punishments," according to information from BNT.