Ministry of Interior

A total of 14 people have been detained in the specialized operation carried out at the Bulgarian road transport administration agency on Wednesday, the Chief Prosecutor's Office has said.

Earlier Tsvetelin Tsvetanov, who heads the agency, was detained in Sofia, along with other people in the capital, but also in Vratsa and Vidin in a country-wide operation.

Spooked by fears of a sudden upsurge in migrant numbers in the spring, Bulgarian MPs have decided that soldiers will be allowed to help police protect the border against irregular migration.

All 156 MPs present at the plenary session on Thursday backed amendments to the Defence and Armed Forces Act, extending the competences of the army during peace time.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that Bulgaria closed its borders for illegal immigrants, since the crisis has been escalated.

“Bulgaria has closed its borders for illegal immigrants. If someone wants to legally pass the borders, he can. The others cannot”, Mr. Borisov said according to Bulgarian news site OFFNews.

Nebojsa Stefanovic, Serbia's Interior Minister, on Wednesday banned protests against refugees in Serbia after two far-right organisations, Nasi [Ours] and Srbski obraz, announced a rally next Monday.

The groups denounced what they called "an EU plan" to settle 400,000 migrants in Serbia.

Macedonia said it was deploying troops on the border with Greece, in a last-ditch move to stem to flow of refugees into and across the country.

The aim was to enhance control of the border area, Ivo Kotevski, spokesperson of the Ministry for Interior, explained on Thursday.

Suspected participant in journalist murder to be questioned

BELGRADE -- Dragan Antic, identified by some witnesses as a direct participant in the murder of journalist Milan Pantic, will soon be questioned in Germany.

Milen Penev, who heads the Border Directorate at Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, has been dismissed, media reports suggest.

This was first announced by public broadcaster BNR, though the Ministry of Interior is yet to confirm.

On October 1, 2014, special police were conducting a major anti-drug operation aimed at netting a ring of international traffickers of marijuana.

One of the suspects, Bardhok Pllanaj, was seen entering in a car, which was stopped but police officers did not dare to enter it.

ABC News, a television station in Tirana, on Monday said it knew the reason why.

PODGORICA - Serbia's Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and his Montenegrin counterpoart Rasko Konjevic met in Podgorica on Monday to discuss opening new border crossings and better border control, which is a requirement of Chapter 24 of the accession talks with the EU.

Over a hundred Macedonian journalists were wiretapped, including the editors of pro-government media as well as journalists that critique the government, opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev announced on Wednesday while unveiling his fourth political "bombshell".