site.btaUPDATED State Agency for National Security Head Reports to Smuggling Scams Investigation Committee

Plamen Tonchev, head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), reported Turesday to the ad hoc parliamentary committee for the investigation of corrupt practices in the National Customs Agency and the possible role of outgoing Finance Minister Assen Vassilev in those practices. Tonchev explained that in 2024, Nikola "Pascal" Nikolov developed a new channel for illegally produced cigarettes in Turkiye. Several dozen truckloads of cigarettes have allegedly passed through the channel in question into Western Europe.