Contraband Cigarettes Found in Blagoevgrad

On the 5th January the Police operating at the countries border in Blagoevgrad stopped a truck and found alot of contraband cigarettes. After further investigations another truck was stopped and this too had contraband cigarettes. The second truck was stopped near the resort of Bansko, also in Blagoevgrad.

Both the vehicles involved were run by the same firm and were supposed to be delivering salt from Italy, but were found to have contraband cigarettes in the salt sacks. The trucks both had Bulgarian resgistrations and were run by a Bulgarian firm.

The Police Chief of Blagoevgrad said of the find: “A truck with a Bulgarian license plate arrived at Ilinden border checkpoint last night. It was transporting sacks of salt from Italy to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. A check established that the truck is actually an alert in the Schengen Information System (SIS). Later the police discovered cigarettes hidden in the sacks of salt. The specialized group at the checkpoint made an analysis and found out that another truck, which was managed by the same firm, crossed the checkpoint." He also went on further to say "The two vehicles, their drivers and the owner of the firm were detained. The three are Bulgarian nationals.”