Bulgaria has extradited two men aged 40 and 42 for their roles in a major benefit fraud ring, the public prosecution office has confirmed.

The men are alleged to have recruited people to apply for benefits in the Netherlands. They were arrested at the end of November and brought to the Netherlands earlier this month, where they have been remanded in custody.

Last week, junior finance minister Frans Weekers admitted that only 55 of the 805 fines issued against Bulgarian nationals for benefit fraud last year have been collected.

The fraud came to light in April 2013 in an investigation carried out by RTL news. It was discovered that gangs of Bulgarians were sending foreign nationals to Rotterdam to write non-existent people into council registers and then claim housing and healthcare benefits on their behalf.