site.bta2.1 Mln-Plus Blanks for Cigarette Packs Seized at Border with Romania

Customs officers have seized 2,188,800 blanks for counterfeit cigarette packs and 276 rolls of cork tipping paper during an inspection in the area of the Danube Bridge 2 border crossing point at Vidin-Calafat, the National Customs Agency said on Tuesday.

At around 2 a.m. on Monday, customs officers stopped a truck travelling from Bulgaria to the Netherlands. The truck was driven by a Bulgarian national who presented documents indicating that he was transporting pallets of coffee cups and rolls of paper with a total weight of 15.6 tonnes. During an inspection of the cargo, the customs officers found a total of 917 carton boxes with blanks for cigarette packs and tipping paper.

The goods were seized on suspicion of trademark infringement, the Customs Agency said.

Three attempts at smuggling raw material for illegal cigarette production have been prevented at the Danube Bridge 2 border crossing point at Vidin-Calafat since the beginning of the year, a BTA check shows. A total of 5,129,640 blanks for cigarette packs and 402 rolls of cork tipping paper have been seized.