site.bta33 Kilos of Heroin Intercepted in Special Operation at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint

33 Kilos of Heroin Intercepted in Special Operation at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint

Sofia, July 19 (BTA) - A little over 33 kilos of heroin en route from Turkey to Western Europe have been intercepted in a Turkish bus at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov told a briefing here on Tuesday, in the presence of officials from the prosecuting magistracy, the National Customs Agency and Interior Ministry services. Kostov said the drug was found in a special operation, "the result of well organized communication" amongst the law-enforcement authorities.

Work on the operation started after a raid against illegal import of cigarettes at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, on the border to Turkey, Kostov said. In the process of the raid, a Turkish company for carriage by bus came up as risky, and it was decided that the raid should go on.

Last Friday a bus of the company arrived at 4 p.m. local time at Kapitan Andreevo, carrying a suspicious bread-making machine in its luggage area. The area was scanned and the heroin was detected.

Two Bulgarians were detained: a 35-year-old man from Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, and a 45-year-old resident of the northern city of Shoumen, who had come to received the machine.