Svilengrad

The movement on the two newly built additional links on the road junction "Plodovitovo" on Trakia motorway will be launched today, reported bTV.

With the construction there will be a connection with  ''Trakia'' highway and ''Maritsa highway'' from Burgas, Svilengrad and Sofia and the municipalities of Parvomay, Chirpan and Daskalovi Brothers.

Bulgarian border authorities have detained 15 illegal migrants in the region of Svilengrad, reported bTV.

The border guards received a signal on Sunday morning, around 8 am by MP Elena Yoncheva who was in the area at that time.

Problems with the border system on the Turkish side have stopped the movement of trucks leaving Bulgaria through the Kapitan Andreevo-Kapikule border crossing, the Road Infrastructure Agency says.

All trucks weighing more than 12 tons will now be redirected through to the border point at Lesovo.

Sixty-five irregular migrants have been detained after being found in a cargo train, Bulgarian authorities say.

The train, carrying iron ore, had arrived from Turkey and was inspected at Kapitan Andreevo border crossing at 04:00 Bulgarian time (EEST).

A group of 56 foreign citizens has been detained about 02:00 hrs on Friday at the Svilengrad station, reported the press centre of the Interior Ministry.

The persons arrested claim they are Syrian.

At present, police officers are working with them. Their registration and the issuing of documents are ongoing.

The district court in Svilengrad convicted a 28-year-old Bulgarian of smuggling. He is to spend one year and eight months in prison under strict regime. The court also issued him with a fine of BGN 1500.

On 20 September 2015, the smuggler was driving MAN truck bearing Burgas licence plates.

Bulgaria's government on Wednesday gave the green light for spending BGN 3 M (EUR 1.5 M) to increase the country's preparedness to join the EU's free-travel Schengen Area.

Three Bulgarian municipalities will have their access to cross-border EU funding cut as Turkey has banned any partnership with them, private bTV station reported.

The Bulgarian authorities have arrested three Syrian nationals trying to sneak into Turkey and charged them with attempting to join the Islamic State group, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday.

Blockades along Bulgaria's southern border with neighbouring Greece and Turkey are expected to intensify on Monday.

After protesting Greek farmers have staged blockades at checkpoints along the Bulgarian-Greek border in the past weeks, Bulgarian truck drivers are threatening to close the border with Turkey.