Bulgarian authorities said police detained 141 migrants attempting to enter the country without permission, all of them believed to be men originating in Afghanistan.
Police on August 28 said they would boost security along the Eastern European EU nation’s border with Turkey because of rising illegal migrant crossings.
Authorities said a group of 88 Afghan migrants was traveling by bus registered in North Macedonia when it was stopped in the Black Sea port city of Burgas.
Burgas police said the driver of the truck was a 60-year-old man from North Macedonia who will be charged with trafficking in migrants.
A second group of 53 Afghans was found while apparently awaiting transport in a forest area near Burgas.
The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan a year ago stoked fears of a repeat of Europe's 2015 migration crisis, when more than 1 million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East arrived in the European Union. Many migrants crossed from Turkey and took the so-called Balkan route to wealthier EU countries.