Bulgarian citizen jailed in Estonia for transporting illegal migrants
Estonia's Pärnu County Court has convicted a 63-year-old Bulgarian citizen of organising the illegal entry of migrants. He received one year and ten months, of which three months must be served in prison.
The Pärnu County Court in Estonia has convicted a Bulgarian citizen of organising the illegal smuggling of migrants into the country. He was sentenced to one year and ten months of imprisonment. He must spend three months behind bars, after which he will be expelled to his home country and banned from entering Estonia for five years.
Police detained the man on 6 October on the Tallinn–Tartu highway in Järva County. His Kia car held seven foreigners who had crossed the Estonian border illegally.
How the scheme worked
According to a prosecutor's office press release, the 63-year-old lives in Germany. He found a job advertisement on the social network TikTok. The unidentified organisers of the scheme paid for his bus ticket from Germany to Riga, a hotel stay and a rental car. Following instructions, he drove to the Latvian border with Belarus, picked up seven migrants and headed towards Tallinn. A police patrol stopped the car on the Tallinn–Tartu highway.
Prosecutors' position and other cases
Prosecutor Keily Tiirik said the authorities intend to seek actual prison terms for all migrant smugglers detained in Estonia. If it is established that they obtained criminal proceeds, prosecutors will also demand their confiscation.
This week a court, at the request of prosecutors, remanded in custody a German citizen and two Pakistani citizens, who were detained in Pärnu County while transporting nine migrants in total. Two Ukrainian citizens were also taken into custody; they were detained in Paldiski while trying to deliver two illegal migrants to a ship bound for Sweden. Pre-trial investigations continue against all of the suspects.
Since July, when migration pressure increased, police have detained about 320 foreigners who entered Estonia without legal grounds. Around 50 criminal proceedings have been opened over illegal transport of foreigners across the state border. In these cases 11 suspects of organising smuggling are in custody, and two people have already received prison sentences.
