Bulgaria - Director of the Customs Agency announced Bulgaria ranks 1st in Europe in seizure of contraband cigarettes..

November 2, 2010 - Bulgaria ranks 1st in Europe and among the top 5 in the world by the seizure of contraband cigarettes, the Director of the Customs Agency, Gen. Vanyo Tanov, announced.

Tanov spoke Monday, November 1st for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, saying Customs agents have halted 16 trucks with contraband cigarettes only in the course of 20 days.

The Customs Head admitted that in the beginning of the year the fight against cigarette smuggling had been facing plenty of obstacles, but the Agency was able to build the right team to effectively counter illegal cigarette traffic to the EU.

Earlier Monday, in a TV interview, the Member of the Parliament from the conservative Order, Law and Justice (RZS) party, Emil Vasilev, accused Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, of direct ties with cigarette contraband in Bulgaria.

The RZS MP offered as evidence claims the police had failed to bust even one large cigarette smuggling shipment and Tsvetanov's known strong disagreements with Tanov.

Recent related story: BULGARIAN MUNICIPAL SERVANT BUSTED FOR CONTRABAND.. The Deputy Director of the Municipal Company "Gardens and Parks" in the second largest Bulgarian city – Plovdiv has been arrested with a very large amount of contraband cigarettes. The special police operation took place Monday night in the Plovdiv "Stolipinovo" district. Enyo Petrov, who is also a former municipal councilman, has been followed by the authorities for several months. Petrov was arrested together with his daughter and one of his workers. The police raided four addresses and seized over 18 000 cigarette boxes without excise labels. (Bulgarian Municipal Servant Busted for Contraband, Novinite.com (Sofia Morning News), 10/28/2010)

Reference: Bulgaria 1st in Europe in Contraband Cigarettes Fight, Novinite, 11/1/2010.

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(smuggling, contraband, black market, illegal, illicit)

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