site.btaNearly 22 Tonnes of Cigarette-making Materials Seized near Danube Bridge 2 Border Crossing

During joint actions, customs officials and border police officers seized 802 cardboard boxes containing 2,605,500 packs for cigarettes and 384 rolls of filter paper with inscriptions of famous cigarette brands, the Customs Agency reported Wednesday. The cigarette-making materials, weighing 21.812 tonnes in total, were found in a freight vehicle with Bulgarian registration headed to Danube Bridge 2 towards Romania.

The vehicle's documents were for the transportation of recycled paper from Bulgaria to Spain, but a customs check by the Vidin Border Police Department found cigarette packaging and filter paper branded with the logo of two famous cigarette brands. The materials were seized in implementation of the EU legislation on intellectual property protection. The brands' owners will be notified about the case.

Last year, customs officials at the Danube Bridge 2 border control checkpoint  prevented five attempts at smuggling materials for illegal cigarette production, shows information on the Customs Agency's website. A total of 5,633,640 packs for cigarettes and 642 rolls of filter paper were seized.