SOFIA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian customs officers at Kulata checkpoint have captured 13.3 million smuggled cigarettes hidden in a truck entering from Greece, authorities said here on Tuesday.
The cigarettes were found last Friday when the truck with Bulgarian registration was selected for a check based on "risk analysis," the National Customs Agency (NCA) said in a statement.
According to the transportation documents, in the cargo were transported "running path and parts" for a consignee in Bulgaria, the NCA said.
However, the customs officers found that only a small part of the cardboard boxes contained pillows, and the rest had Davidoff cigarettes without a tax stamp. "A total of 13.3 million cigarettes, or 665,000 packs, were seized, distributed in 1,330 cardboard boxes," the NCA said.
"The quantity seized is a record-high of the cases established by the customs authorities on the border with Greece for the last ten years as it is also the biggest one, found on a Bulgarian border since 2018 onwards," the NCA said.
The market value of the cigarettes seized is 3,657,500 BGN (1.97 million U.S. dollars), it added. ■