Employees of the "Customs" Agency and the General Directorate of "Border Police" prevented a large-scale illegal import of excise goods in the Vidin region. During two separate inspections, 626,600 short illegal cigarettes and 10,540 electronic smoking devices without a valid Bulgarian excise stamp.
The first case was registered on the ring road of the city of Vidin. Customs inspectors stopped a truck with a Serbian registration, driven by a Croatian citizen, for inspection. The driver claimed that the vehicle was empty. Upon thorough inspection, the officers discovered caches with manipulated double boards. 31,330 packs of cigarettes with a Kosovo stamp were found inside. The market value of the goods amounts to 103,284 euros, and the avoided excise duty is about 70,806 euros.
The second raid was carried out during the joint inspection in the area after the "New Europe" bridge (Danube Bridge 2). A light van entering the country, driven by a man with dual Belgian and Turkish citizenship, was stopped. Inside, the inspectors found boxes with a total of 10,540 vapes without a tax stamp.
The District Prosecutor's Office - Vidin took over the management of the two pre-trial proceedings in the case. The two foreign drivers were brought in as defendants, and the court imposed the most severe measure of detention on them - „detention“.
Source: „Customs“ Agency / BTA