site.btaSmuggled Gold Jewelry Worth over BGN 60,000 Found in Passenger's Underwear at Border with Turkiye

Five packages with a total of 532 grammes of smuggled gold jewelry worth over BGN 60,000 were found by customs officers at the Malko Tarnovo border checkpoint during an inspection of a passenger car with Bulgarian registration entering the country from Turkiye, the Customs Agency said on Friday. Four of the packages were hidden in the upper underwear of a passenger in the car, and the fifth package was hidden in a pocket of clothes.

The passenger car arrived at the Malko Tarnovo border checkpoint on January 6, on an incoming route from Turkiye to Bulgaria. In the customs control area, the driver and all passengers in the car stated that they had nothing to declare. During the customs inspection, during a personal search of a woman traveling in the car, 4 polyethylene packages with jewelry made of yellow metal were found, hidden in her bra. Another package with jewelry made of yellow metal was found in the trouser pocket of another passenger in the car. A total of 532 grammes of jewelry were discovered, including  bracelets, chains, rings, earrings, which the woman later confirmed were all her property. According to the expert examination, the jewelry was made of 14-carat gold (585 sample) and had a total value of BGN 60,308.
The smuggled gold items were confiscated. A Bulgarian citizen was charged with an administrative offense.

Over 13,776 grammes of smuggled jewelry made of precious metals were confiscated by the customs officers of the Malko Tarnovo Police Department in 2024. Of these, 10,710 grammes were silver jewelry, and 3,066.20 grammes were gold jewelry. The undeclared precious metal items were most often hidden in clothing, personal belongings and household goods in the luggage of passengers entering the country from Turkiye, both foreign and Bulgarian citizens.