We may be over 1,500 miles away from the Dover-to-Calais route, but the Turkish-Bulgarian border is the frontier of Europe’s battle against exploitative criminal gangs.

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The channel illustrates the stark reality of Europe’s migration crisis, with tens of thousands making the perilous crossing each year from France to England’s shores. But it’s here, overlooking the craggy Balkan terrain at Kapitan Andreevo, where border officers work to ‘stop the boats’… literally.

Georgi Gospodinov sits proudly in his office, in front of both a Bulgarian and EU flag, at a desk lined with wads of paperwork. The tough-talking border boss is Head of Kapitan Andreevo Customs Point. And this little-known official may hold the key to curbing arrivals at the other end of the continent.

This customs point sees over a million lorries pass through each year (over 2,500 each day) and more resembles a building site, as Bulgarian authorities scramble to increase capacity due to an unprecedented rise in traffic.

Mr Gospodinov has just concluded a week-long crackdown, Operation Balkan Bridge II, aided by the British National Crime Agency (NCA). The action led to the discovery of over 1,130 firearm and ammunition parts, 58kg of smuggled narcotics, 2 ‘concealed’ people and two rubber boats. The joint operation also saw senior figures from France, Germany, the United States, Greece, Italy and Austria involved.

British and Bulgarian authorities believe they can cull the vast empire of the vile gangs by preventing the equipment for the dinghies- as well as the rubber boat structures themselves - from getting into the continent in the first place

In the past few years, authorities here have seized nearly 300 vessels, including a 12-metre-long dinghy which has been re-inflated for us........

© LBC