site.btaKapitan Andreevo Customs Seize Over 1 Million Cigarettes in Two Smuggling Attempts

Customs officers found 1,086,400 illegal cigarettes during two lorry inspections at the Turkiye border, the Customs Agency said in a press release here on Tuesday.

On September 28, 2024, customs officials at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint seized over 1 million cigarettes (52,320 packs) with Turkish excise stamps from a lorry transporting metal machine parts from Turkiye to Hungary. The haul, valued at BGN 335,828, was discovered during a risk-based inspection. The driver, a 61-year-old Turkish national, was charged under the Penal Code, released on BGN 6,000 bail, and barred from leaving the country without a prosecutor's permit by the Haskovo Regional Prosecution Service.

On September 27, another lorry en route from Turkiye to the Netherlands was found carrying 40,000 (2,000 packs) undeclared cigarettes. The driver was cited under the Customs Act for attempting to smuggle goods across the border.

The offences were uncovered during a joint anti-smuggling operation conducted by the Customs Agency, the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the Border Police Directorate General, and the National Revenue Agency. Near 1,260,000 cigarettes (63,000 packs) in total were seized in September.