Today, in the courtroom of the Burgas District Court, more details were revealed in the case against Syrian Omar Adnan, accused of the murder of two policemen – Atanas Gradev and Yordan Iliev, which took place on August 25, 2022 at the „Trapezitsa“ intersection in Burgas. Border police officers involved in the tragic incident were questioned in the courtroom. Among those who testified were Ivan Todorov, Ivan Tsotsarov, Abdullah Abdu, Krassimir Pleshev, Georgi Tsvetkov, Evgeni Dimitrov, Plamen Dimitrov and Georgi Dimitrov.
It all started when the Border Police Station reported a white bus that did not stop at the Krushevets and Poda checkpoints and was traveling in the direction of Burgas. Interior Ministry officers broadcast the information on the air, and just a few minutes later the vehicle was spotted at the „Trapezitsa“ intersection, where it hit the patrol car of the two police officers who died.
Abdullah Abdu, one of the witnesses, told the court:
„I have been in Bulgaria since 2004, I am a mechanic. I received a commission for transporting migrants – BGN 19,000. I bought the white bus for 6000 euros from the car dealership in Harmanli. I showed Omar how to drive the bus because he didn’t have a driving licence. The first bus I bought was red and the second one was white, which was a Mercedes brand, semi-automatic, with a broken air conditioner. I got the money for the white bus from a shop to Harmanli. I didn’t know they were going to use the buses to transport migrants.“
Abdu added that the bus was in good condition and that only the air conditioner was not working. Ivan Tsotsarov, commander of a department of the Ministry of Interior, described the incident at the Krushevets checkpoint:
„On 24 August, I was on duty with Hristo Dimov. Around 04:00 in the morning we saw a white bus that did not stop at a stop light and a stop stick. My colleague Dimov had to jump aside to avoid being hit because the bus accelerated when he saw it.“
Prosecutor Dimitar Uzunov stressed the importance of the actions of the Interior Ministry in such situations and asked many questions to the witnesses. He asked Krassimir Pleshev, a junior operations officer who reported the signals to the duty officer of the Burgas Police Department:
„How long are you going to show stop sticks? How far should the bus go to Sofia or Serbia?“
„I don’t have the authority to make a forced stop,“, Pleshev replied. He pointed out that they have no means of stopping vehicles other than the stop stick. He stated during the interrogation:
„Omar’s ID card had expired and I called the Registration and Reception Center in Harmanli, but they explained to me that such persons are allowed to go out for a walk. We found him initially in an abandoned red bus. Dimitar Petrov called me that there was a car with a Syrian citizen around the red bus. Georgi Pantov checked the documents of the bus and there were no problems. On the day of the accident, around 04:30 a.m., I got a call from the Krushevets checkpoint that a white bus had passed, I started looking for patrol cars. The bus did not stop even at the stop sign at the Poda checkpoint towards Burgas. Plamen Tomov gave me information that he was moving fast and the border patrol was following him, and then I called the person on duty at the Police Department of Burgas that a bus was coming to the city. My colleague from the regional directorate and I spoke on loudspeaker, sirens were heard and I clearly said that he was driving fast. Plamen Tomov told me that the bus had hit a patrol car and migrants had started coming out of it.“
During the questioning, it became clear that before the incident, the two persons responsible for the fatal accident were identified, detained and released by the border police. They were found in a broken-down bus full of water and croissants.
The prosecutor asked Pleshev: „Who decided to release the persons. Why are they not recorded in the log of signals received. Pleshev replied: „I did not release them, the operatives released them. I don’t know why the task force did that.“
Prosecutor Uzunov asked more questions to Krasimir Pleshev: „What do you need for the system to be triggered?“, „How long will we monitor and follow them?“
Pleshev said in his defense: „We did everything possible to stop the bus. The only thing we can do is use a stop stick. We have no other means.”
Georgi Tsvetkov, head of the Border Police Unit in Burgas, stated during the interrogation:
„The duty officer explained the situation to me, stating that there was a bus that might be used for transporting migrants. I ordered an operative worker to be sent to participate in the interrogation. The police officer on the scene must decide whether to detain a person. At that time, I had work meetings and was not familiar with the details of the case. Later, everything was explained to me.“
Tsvetkov added that he did not have detailed information about the case and that the duty officer should record all reports.
„I am sorry, if I had known about the case earlier, I would have taken measures,“, he said.
The questioning of witnesses continues, and more testimonies from border officials are expected. The prosecutor emphasized the importance of internal coordination and the presence of effective measures for stopping vehicles, especially in cases like this, where the safety of citizens and law enforcement officers is affected.
