site.btaCustoms Officers Seize 1.28 Mln Cigarettes at Bulgarian-Turkish Border

Bulgarian customs inspectors at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkiye have seized 1.28 million contraband cigarettes from an incoming Turkish-registered truck with a Turkish driver, the Customs Office in Svilengrad (Southern Bulgaria) said. The cigarettes are worth BGN 436,850.

The truck's cargo was documented as 100 boxes of bed linen bound for Germany. Instead of bedding, the inspectors found 64,000 packs of cigarettes with a Turkish excise stamp. Pre-trial proceedings are under way.

This haul brings the contraband cigarettes intercepted at Kapitan Andreevo so far in 2023 to nearly BGN 27 million, according to Customs Agency data.