site.btaBulgarian Customs Seize Live Corals in First-Ever Case at Kapitan Andreevo Border Crossing

For the first time ever, customs officers seized live corals in a failed smuggling attempt via the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian - Turkish border, the Customs Agency in Svilengrad announced Thursday.

The corals were discovered in the cargo compartment of a bus traveling on a route from Turkey to North Macedonia on December 14.

There were 36 passengers and two drivers in the vehicle. The bus was picked for a thorough inspection by customs officers. Five corals were found in a styrofoam box among the passengers’ luggage. One of the bus drivers took responsibility for possessing them.

The corals were seized on the basis of the EU Regulation on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade, as well as Bulgaria’s Biological Diversity Act. An initial expert assessment showed that the corals belong to five different species and have protected conservation status.

They were sent to the Regional Museum of Natural History in Plovdiv, Diana Markova from the Customs Agency press office in Svilengrad told the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

She noted that there have been other cases over the years in which attempts to smuggle corals were uncovered at various customs checkpoints in Bulgaria, but in all those cases the marine animals were fossilized.

This is not the first case of exotic animals being detained at this border crossing, Diana Markova said. Just over a year ago, customs officers seized 243 tarantulas and 100 leopard geckos. On November 28, 2025, the exotic animals were officially handed over to a terrarium at the Mineralni Bani resort near Haskovo, where they had been kept after their seizure for temporary storage and care under appropriate conditions.