site.btaCustom Officials Seize Cigarettes Worth EUR 5 Mln

Bulgarian customs officials seized nearly 25 million cigarettes worth an estimated EUR 5 million in a 24-hour operation targeting illicit excise goods. The cigarettes were discovered in four trucks at the Lesovo and Kulata border checkpoints, Stefan Bakalov, Deputy Director of the National Customs Agency, said at a briefing here on Friday.

Officials at Kulata border checkpoint found more than 9 million cigarettes concealed in boxes labelled as enamel stoves inside a truck. A second truck was also found carrying a large quantity of cigarettes, which has not been disclosed. At Lesovo border checkpoint, authorities seized over 6 million cigarettes hidden inside pallets of declared goods transported from Turkiye to Romania.

Bakalov noted that operation Prometheus targeted high-risk freight vehicles using intelligence-led profiling and X-ray inspections. Investigators said the suspected smuggling methods resembled tactics used by organized drug-trafficking networks.

Four pre-trial investigations have been launched under the supervision of prosecutors in Yambol and Blagoevgrad. A Polish driver arrested at Kulata has been remanded in custody.