The border with the Republic of Turkey remained the busiest in terms of migration in 2023.
Attempts at illegal entry of migrants through the Bulgarian-Turkish border increased by 10% compared to 2022. Border police detained 1,729 illegal migrants - the largest number was citizens of Syria – 920, Morocco – 270, Afghanistan – 249, Iraq - 105, etc., the analysis Border Police.
More than 178,200 attempts of migrants to cross illegally from Turkey to Bulgaria have been prevented. They returned independently to the interior of the neighboring country after establishing the presence of Bulgarian patrols and posts along the border line. It is possible that some of them made more than one attempt to cross the territory of Bulgaria. According to information submitted by the Bulgarian patrols, the Turkish border authorities detained 616 people in neighboring territory.
During the period January 1 - December 31, 2023, attempts by third-country nationals to cross illegally from Greece to Bulgaria were 86% less than in 2022. Bulgarian border police detained 39 illegal migrants. After establishing the presence of Bulgarian patrols and posts along the border, about 500 people returned independently to the interior of the Republic of Greece. During the period, 2,528 citizens of third countries were detained for attempting to illegally cross the borders on their way out of Bulgaria. Among them, the largest number are citizens of Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Iraq.
The busiest exit was the Bulgarian-Serbian border, where 88% of persons trying to cross illegally were detained. Last year, 2,227 citizens of third countries were detained at the Bulgarian-Serbian border when trying to leave illegally - 2,144 at the green border and 83 at the checkpoint.
In 2023, 256 citizens of third countries were detained at the Bulgarian-Romanian border. Of these, the border police detained the most Syrians - 172 and Iraqis - 28, most often detected during an attempt to illegally cross with trucks. /BGNES
