Cigarette smugglers caught at Bulgarian border
Recently, Bulgarian police has seized counterfeit cigarettes that were planed to be exported to EU. Tobacco products were seized at the Kulata border crossing between Bulgaria and Greece.
Nikolai Shoushkov, head of customs at the border crossing, said that tens of smokes were hidden in a car with a Bulgarian registration. Tobacco products were carefully hidden in luggage and in car compartments.
Nikolai Shoushkov said that cigarettes have Serbian and Bulgarian excise labels. The problem is that quantity was exceeded than established norms.
According to the law, a person is allowed to export no more than 800 cigarettes, equal with 4 cartons of cigarettes. This amount is for personal use and it is not permitted to be resold.
Seized quantity exceeded European norms for free export of cigarettes several times, Shoushkov said.
Shoushkov presupposes that cigarettes were for Italian tobacco market, where prices for tobacco products are much higher than those in Bulgaria.
Cigarette smuggling is known due to a continuous increasing rate and this rate will maintain this coefficient because of rising of prices on almost all tobacco markets.
