Bulgaria intercepts refrigerator truck with 16 illegal immigrants on board

SOFIA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian authorities have captured a refrigerator truck illegally transporting 16 migrants at the city of Ruse near the border with Romania, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

A border patrol car stopped the vehicle with Latvian registration shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

The border police officers found that there were no goods in the refrigerated cargo area, but the air conditioner was working, the ministry said in a press release.

However, a detailed inspection revealed that a secret compartment was built in the front part of the refrigerated trailer, and 16 foreign nationals were hidden there.

It was established that the migrants were Iraqis and were in the process of being granted status at the State Agency for Refugees, the ministry said.

They said that the final destination of their illegal trip was Germany.

According to the Interior Ministry, in the first five months of 2025, Bulgarian authorities have arrested 504 citizens of non-European Union countries who were trying to leave the country illegally, among them 191 at the border with Romania. Enditem