site.btaCounterfeit Branded Goods, Untaxed Cigarettes Seized at Border with Turkiye

Bulgarian police and customs officers have seized counterfeit branded goods and untaxed cigarettes during a check on a Turkish-registered bus at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkiye, the Interior Ministry's Regional Directorate in Haskovo reported.

At 1:00 am on Friday, a joint team inspected a bus transiting through Bulgaria with 23 passengers. The search uncovered 4,065 counterfeit branded items and 18,000 contraband cigarettes. The goods belonged to the two Turkish drivers, aged 66 and 52, while the cigarettes were claimed by five passengers. All items were seized with customs receipts.

Last week, customs officials from 20 EU Member States were familiarized with their colleagues' performance at Kapitan Andreevo. In 2024, a total of 1,255,516 counterfeit items were seized at the checkpoint, up by 15% from 2023.