site.btaBulgarian Law Enforcers Foil Export of 6 Mln-Plus Cigarettes

Nearly 309,580 packs containing 6,191,600 cigarettes were found among boxes of glass jars in a Bulgarian-registered truck on July 30. The inspection was part of an anti-smuggling operation involving the Customs Agency, the Border Police Service, the Directorate General for Combating Organized Crime and the National Revenue Agency, the Customs authority said Thursday.

The truck with a Bulgarian driver bound for Germany was stopped at the Ruse-Giurgiu checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Romania. The freight was documented as glass packaging.

The inspectors did X-ray and physical checks to find 720 master cases of some of the best known cigarette brands without duty stamps and an inscription "For duty free sales only" in Greek or English.

The contraband cigarettes were impounded and the driver was arrested. Pre-trial proceedings are under way under the supervision of the Regional Prosecution Office of Ruse.