A Turkish smuggler, who presents himself as Hassan, claims before the BuzzFeed News website, cited by the Bulgarian News Agency that he has smuggled across border over 10 jihadists of Islamic State. The man says he received USD 2,500 for each person he smuggled in. This is the first direct claim on terrorists penetrating Europe as Syrian refugees, the website points out. A day after the release of this information, during the Third annual security conference, Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev stated that there was a danger of terrorists’ penetration on Bulgarian territory.

“What happens in the Middle East, with the so-called Islamic State hides the risk of terrorist groups penetrating Bulgarian territory and trying to activate frozen cells that might be extremely dangerous,” Minister Nenchev said. “We should do our best to restrict to the maximum the possibility of these people to penetrate and act on Bulgarian territory”.

The statements of ex-Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov on Bulgarian citizens fighting for Islamic State turned out to be “only suspicions”, according to the new minister: “We can’t be 100 percent sure”.

“There are over 15,000 foreigners in this terrorist organization, 3 – 5,000 of those being EU citizens,” said Yordan Bozhilov, chair of the Sofia Security Forum. “We don’t have data about Bulgarians, but there might be some people, who have somehow got into the possession of Bulgarian passports. We have for sure a Bulgarian nabbed in Spain for cooperating in the recruitment of fighters for Islamic State. Such men might use the Bulgarian territory for their return from Iraq and Syria…”

Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said during the Sofia Security Forum:

“The expansion of the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa is a serious and immediate danger to the security of the North Atlantic Alliance, requiring an active response,” he said. “At the forum in Wales we decided that the terrorist actions of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant are a very serious threat to us and the region. The complicated nature of the challenges and threats require a complex international response, as well as an all-embracing approach. In this context Resolution 2178 of the UN Security Council / 24 September 2014 is an important tool for coping with terrorist organizations like the Islamic State. Its effective implementation is essential and Bulgaria takes measures in that direction. We believe that the enhancing process, regarding national legislation will be kicked off as soon as possible."

NATO Assistant Secretary General forEmergingSecurityChallenges Sorin Ducaru, who attended the Sofia-held forum, called on in an interview for BNR for the harmonization of the laws for prosecution of terrorists with European passports. Asked whether Bulgaria should incriminate the participation of Bulgarians in Islamic State, Ducaru answered:

“Each member-state should take the experience of the others, regarding this issue. We must try to harmonize legislation. This can happen at many levels – for instance, there is a justice and home affairs sector with the EC. At the NATO level we might enhance mutual awareness on this serious security issue.”

“Those Bulgarians, who fight for the Islamic State should be persecuted. These are the amendments to the Penal Code prepared,” said for Darrik Radio Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov one day after the end of the conference.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev