Three Bulgarians spotted earlier this week photographing Greek army facilities near the border with Bulgaria were yesterday sentenced to 15 months in jail for espionage.

The Bulgarians – a couple serving in the military and their 46-year-old driver – were arrested in the border town of Ormenio on Monday after a Greek soldier saw them taking photographs of an army camp. A digital camera seized from the couple, aged 36 and 35, contained photographs of several military camps in the area, police said.

A judge in the northern city of Orestiada found all three Bulgarians guilty of espionage and sentenced them each to 15 months in jail. But the three were later released after lodging appeals against the sentences. They told the court that they had been visiting Greece as tourists and had intended to publish the photographs in Bulgarian military magazines.