Executive Director of the National Narcotics Agency Rumen Specov defined as an extremely serious blow to drug trafficking, the arrests made by the employees of the “Customs” Agency. over 402 kg. heroin. Representatives of the National Narcotics Agency and the Ministry of the Interior also participated in the discovery of the drug, and the actions are within the framework of the specialized plan for enhanced control of border crossings through joint teams of police officers, tax and customs inspectors.
On April 17, at the "Captain Andreevo" border crossing customs point, a Turkish-registered bullet train traveling from Iran to an EU country was stopped. According to the method of “risk analysis” the truck passed through an X-ray, where customs inspectors found different densities in the transported goods – 156 mattresses in total. This doubted the employees of the "Customs" Agency. A more detailed examination of the mattresses revealed 618 packages containing a beige color, which in the field test reacted to heroin. The total value of the seized drugs is BGN 16,727,377.
„I congratulate the colleagues from the “Customs” and the officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Narcotics Agency who participated in the discovery of this large quantity of drugs. They all showed how important it is to work as a team with a common goal – more secure EU borders. I am confident that we will continue to work so well together in the future, being uncompromising against attempts to break the laws," said Rumen Spetsov minutes after the end of the press conference at which the results of the action were announced. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov, Director of the “Customs” Agency also took part in the briefing. Georgi Dimov and Ivan Stoyanov – district prosecutor of Haskovo. According to Georgi Dimov, the case is currently being analyzed, and even more serious measures will be taken to tighten border control in order to counteract the traffic and smuggling of excise goods.
„This result is a consequence of the increased interaction between the four services of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – "Customs" Agency, NRA, GDBOP and DG "Border Police". The entire capacity of the Bulgarian institutions will be used to protect the interests of the Bulgarian citizens. I am confident that soon Bulgaria will be a full member of the Schengen area,“, Ludmila Petkova also stated, congratulating the employees for the excellent work done.