site.btaTurkey Protests Over Heavy Checks of Passenger Buses at Kapitan Andreevo Border Crossing

November 20 (BTA) - Turkey has handed a protest note to Bulgaria over checks of buses coming into Bulgaria from Turkey, reported mediapool.bg, quoting Bulgarian National Radio.

On Friday evening private broadcaster bTV reported that 30 buses had been blocked for hours at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing. The Turkish consul general in Plovdiv visited the border crossing to talk with senior officers.

According to Turkish media, the checks are in connection with the presidential runoff in Bulgaria on Sunday.

The official position of the Bulgarian authorities is that this is an operation against contraband goods.

In a press release on Saturday the Interior Ministry said that in the course of the operation 37 buses, six trucks and 40 cars were checked. Some 929,200 pieces of cigarettes, 750 kg of meat, 140 kg of foodstuffs and 70 kg of dairy products had been seized,along with a total of 3870 items from 13 buses,

Now the operation has ended and traffic is normal.

The Bulgarian Foreign Miinstry has refused to comment on the situaton at the Bulgarian-Turkish border and the information that Turkey has handed a protest note.