site.btaCustoms Agency Finds Record Amount of Smuggled Gold at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint

Nearly 125 kg of undeclared gold castings, bars, coins and gold material with a total value of BGN 10,600,197 were found during a joint operation by the Kapitan Andreevo Customs station, SANS and Border Police. The smuggled gold was hidden in a car leaving the country. This is the largest amount of smuggled gold seized on the Bulgarian border. The case was announced at a joint briefing on Friday, which was attended by the director of the Customs Agency Georgi Dimov, Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov, Border Police Chief Anton Zlatanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for National Security Georgi Georgiev, and Haskovo District Prosecutor Ivan Stoyanov.

On September 11 at 7:30 pm a car with Bulgarian registration arrived at the Kapitan Andreevo customs checkpoint. A Bulgarian citizen and his companion, with Bulgarian and Turkish citizenship, in the car were travelling from Bulgaria to Turkiye. The men told the customs officers that they were not carrying goods to declare. During the thorough customs inspection, after removing the cover of the dashboard, castings, bullion, coins and articles of yellow metal were found in place of the airbag of the car. According to the expert's examination, 106 gold castings weighing a total of 120,604.24 grams were found. Another 4,103.97 grams of gold, including 23 bars of different weights of 24-carat gold, 38 coins, 9 chains, 3 bracelets and material of gold articles of different samples were also recovered from the hideout. The gold was seized.

"This is a record bust for the last forty years. The largest amount seized so far is about 40 kg," Customs Agency Director Georgi Dimov told reporters. He explained that the thorough customs inspection lasted for over 13 hours and the large amount of gold was taken out from various caches.

Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov stressed the coordination between the various services at the border and the professional approach of Border Police and the Customs Agency. 

The operation was carried out as a result of information received by the State Agency for National Security on an active channel for smuggling precious metals from Europe through Bulgaria to Turkiye and vice versa. In the course of the conducted activities, persons suspected of being involved in the detected criminal scheme were identified, explained Deputy Chairman of SANS Georgi Georgiev.

Pre-trial proceedings have been initiated in the case by an investigating customs inspector under the supervision of the Haskovo District Prosecutor's Office.