site.btaCustoms Officers Seize over 22,000 Packs of Illegal Cigarettes near Vidin

A total of 22,032 packs of cigarettes with a valid Bulgarian excise duty band were seized by customs officers during an inspection of a truck in the area of Danube Bridge-Vidin. The quantity was detected in the course of the joint anti-smuggling operation of the Customs Agency, Border Police, the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the National Revenue Agency.

On June 27 customs inspectors selected for inspection a truck with Bulgarian registration at the exit of the Republic of Bulgaria, travelling to Western Europe. The driver, a Bulgarian citizen, presented documents for the transported cargo - foodstuffs. The vehicle was scanned with a mobile X-ray system and the image analysis revealed atypical densities in the middle part of the cargo compartment. A physical check was also carried out, during which it was found that the boxes which should have contained food were in fact filled with cigarettes of known brands. In addition to being tightly packed in the cartons, the tobacco products with Bulgarian banding were also wrapped in foil, presumably in an attempt to make them invisible to X-ray.

The driver denied being in possession of the excise goods. The cigarettes were seized and the driver was issued with an administrative offence certificate.