27 migrants, helped by two smugglers, discovered by border police near Sf. Gheorghe

The border police with the Coast Guard have discovered, around the town of Sf. Gheorghe, 27 migrants coming from Turkey on a watercraft, with the help of two smugglers, and they were retained for 24 hours, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPF) informs.

"On May 16, 2022, the border police with the Integrated System of Observation, Surveillance and Control of Traffic on Black Sea (SCOMAR), have identified a suspicious watercraft in international waters, that was navigating towards Romania's shore, being monitored for criminal activity. Thus, the border police have intercepted a group of 27 foreign citizens, from Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the two smugglers that facilitated their travel from Turkey to Romania. The persons were picked up by our colleagues for investigations, and the means used for facilitating their transport will be confiscated," according to a press release sent by IGPF on Tuesday.

The border police are continuing their investigation in this case, under the coordination of the prosecutor within the Prosecutor's Office of the Constanta Court of Appeal, for the crimes of illegally crossing state lines, aggravated migrant trafficking and piloting a vessel without a patent or without an appropriate certified capacity.

The two persons that facilitated the migrants' transportation from Turkey to Romania have been detained for 24 hours and will be presented to the judge of rights and freedoms with the Constanta Court with a proposal for preventive arrest, the border police specify.AGERPRES