The Brexit issue affects the issue of migrant flows, so it’s necessary to check the version of the intentional killing of 39 people whose bodies were found in a truck the day before, Tikhomir Stoychev, former head of Bulgarian Central Organised Crime Control Service, said.
"It’s necessary to check the version of the intentional killing of these people. Not everyone loves foreigners who settle in their countries. In some places, they even shoot at them," Stoychev said on bTV.
According to him, Bulgaria is an attractive object for human trafficking due to the lack of efficiency of some institutions, certain inconsistency in the security sector and its geographical location.
"Apparently, we’ll remain such a centre," Stoychev said, adding that today human trafficking brings a lot more money than the arms trade.
Nikolai Radulov, a national and international security expert, has denied the intentional killing of those people.
"I think that Dr Stoychev’s version is difficult to accept for the simple reason that this is a business, and no one wants this business to end because of a poor supplier. <...> This is the poor reputation of a traffic agent. They wouldn’t allow this, it’s too much income," Radulov said.
Radulov also thinks that Bulgarian-organised crime could provide logistical support for people traffickers.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said that Bulgaria had nothing to do with the trafficking of people, and a truck registered in Varna by an Irish citizen in 2017 never appeared on the territory of Bulgaria again.
The bodies of 39 people, eight women and 31 men, were found in a refrigerated trailer in UK's Essex on Wednesday after it arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium. According to the police, the front part of the lorry - the tractor unit - entered the country via Wales, having travelled from Dublin. The lorry driver, who was identified as 25-year-old Mo Robinson, is being questioned by the police on suspicion of murdering the 39 people.
