site.btaSmuggled Gold Worth over BGN Half Million Confiscated at Border with Turkiye

Nearly 5 kg of smuggled gold ingots were discovered by customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint during an inspection of a bus leaving the country, the Customs Agency said on Tuesday.

On March 2, a bus with Turkish registration arrived at the checkpoint. The vehicle was carrying the driver and 16 passengers from Kosovo via Bulgaria to Turkiye. All of them told customs officers that they were not carrying goods to declare. The vehicle was selected for a thorough customs inspection, during which a black polyethylene bag was found in a factory cavity in the rear door of the bus. Eight ingots of yellow metal were hidden in it. An expert examination determined that the castings were made of gold with a total weight of 4974.50 grammes worth BGN 527,059. Further inspections determined that the gold was the property of one of the passengers, a Kosovo citizen.

A pre-trial investigation has been initiated into the case by an investigating customs inspector under the supervision of the Haskovo Regional Prosecutor's Office.