site.btaIllegal Cigarettes Seized at Bulgarian-Turkish Border in Jan-Feb Increase Three-Fold Y/Y

Illegal cigarettes seized at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border in January and February 2022 totalled 1,914,460, which was a three-fold increase from a year earlier and a two-fold increase from 2020, said the local office of the Customs Agency in Svilengrad.  

In the first week of March, the authorities seized 135,580 cigarettes in 6,779 boxes. They foiled 38 attempts at smuggling cigarettes from Turkey in excess of the quantity which need not be declared. Also, the authorities found 28,160 cigarettes without a Bulgarian excise tax stamp while checking four freight vehicles in March.