Border guard

A Bulgarian national and a Pakistan national have been arrested over helping foreign nationals stay in Bulgaria illegally, according to the Interior Ministry.

The fifth regional police department in Sofia, together with Border Police unit of the Interior, started working on the case on December 26.

Bulgaria will continue building the fence along its border witn Turkey meant to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, the government has decided.

The Interior Ministry should draft an engineering project and set a timeline for its implementation by 30 January, according to an action plan approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.

Bulgaria's border police arrested 41 Syrians at the Danube Bridge border crossing with Romania for illegally trying to leave the country, reports Vesti.bg.

They were found early on Thursday morning hiding in a truck with Turkish plates. The Turkish driver was also arrested.

Bulgarian customs officers at the Danube Bridge border crossing point seized over a kilogram of synthetic drugs worth around BGN 37 000.

According to reports of the customs unit in Ruse, the joint operation with officers of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and Border Police busted a synthetic drug trafficking channel from the Netherlands to Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Customs Agency head Pavel Tonev has vowed a comprehensive inspection at the authority.

Tonev, who was appointed Director of the Customs Agency in November 2013, explained in an interview for Standard daily that the probe would include public procurement deals from 2009 on.