Customs officers have found about 8.64m cigarettes without Bulgarian excise stamps in a second truck at the Kulata border checkpoint, the Customs Agency said. Cigarettes were also found in the first truck at the checkpoint.
On 8 October, officers searched a Polish-registered truck travelling from Greece to Bulgaria. Cigarettes of three brands were hidden behind a row of boxes holding bags of cornflakes and packs of kadaif. When the food was unloaded, 24 pallets of cartons were found behind it, holding 432,000 packs in total. The cigarettes are valued at €1,644,840.
The finds are part of Operation Prometheus, which targets the smuggling of excise goods through Bulgaria's border checkpoints. Customs officers from several units of the agency took part. In 24 hours, nearly 25m cigarettes were found in four trucks, two at Lesovo and two at Kulata. Everything found is estimated at about €5m.
Stefan Bakalov, deputy director of the agency, gave the overall results at a briefing. He said the amounts seized are unprecedented for Bulgaria for an operation of this length.
According to the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor's Office, the two Polish men, with the initials G.F. and A.P., have been charged. The Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor's Office, Petrich branch, asked for a preventive measure, and the court ordered pre-trial detention, the strictest measure.
The court's rulings can be appealed to the Blagoevgrad Regional Court.