Bulgarian customs officers at Lesovo BCP found cigarettes in a truck with furniture

The customs officers at Lesovo BCP found 80 000 pieces (4000 boxes) of contraband cigarettes in a truck transporting furniture to France.

The truck with a foreign registration arrived at Lesovo BCP on 24.02.2024, around 10:00 p.m., on an inbound route into the country. The driver, a Turkish citizen, submitted documents that he was transporting furniture from Turkey to France via Bulgaria. During the customs inspection with specialized X-ray equipment, the inspectors mark a suspicious area in the cargo. A physical inspection was carried out, during which undeclared 80 000 pieces (4000 boxes) of cigarettes of various brands were found hidden among the declared furniture in the marked area. The contraband cigarettes were seized. Against the driver with initials I.D. an administrative violation act was drawn up.

Since the beginning of February alone, the customs officers of the Lesovo BCP have discovered 67 attempts to smuggle cigarettes, and a total of 339 900 cigarettes (16 995 boxes) have been seized. In most cases, excise tobacco products were hidden between declared goods in trucks traveling to Western European countries. The seized cigarettes at Lesovo BCP since the beginning of the year are 677 220 cigarettes (33 861 boxes) or nearly three times more than the first two months of the previous year.

Publish date: 28 February 2024 09:55