A completely innocent driver lost his license. A man claims that he stood in the cold for over half an hour, forced to rub a swab in his mouth for a field drug test. According to him, the police insisted that he keep rubbing “until he turned blue”. An arrest followed, and the blood test later came back negative. The car's license plates were returned. But - the man remains without a license. The reason is that the judge is on leave, reports Nova TV.
"In December 2025, I was stopped for a check. In Sofia. On “Tsarigradsko shose“. This is what he told in “Zdravej, Bulgaria” the injured driver Akif Tarhan.
The check began with questions about whether the man had used alcohol. "I denied it. A breathalyzer test followed. Then they asked me if I had used drugs or their analogues. I said no again. They invited me to take a drug test. One of the police officers told me to rub the swab in my mouth and keep doing it until it "turns blue". He added that if it doesn't turn blue, we'll take another test," the driver said.
According to him, the swab "turned blue" after about 20 minutes. "We were outside, outside the car. The temperature was about zero degrees. It was very cold, and I was thinly dressed. In total, I stood outside for about 40 minutes while they tested me for drugs. It took longer because my mouth was dry and I didn't have enough saliva," says Akif.
The driver asked the policeman if he was aware that these tests sometimes give false results. The uniformed officer replied confidently that this was impossible. "He told me: 'If you haven't used drugs, the test won't show anything.'" However, the test showed benzodiazepines. One of the policemen even advised me several times not to give a blood sample, because what the field test showed would also show up in the blood test. I categorically refused to agree and insisted on giving blood," says the victim.
After the positive test result, he was detained. A mobile group also came and described the car while he was giving a test at the Military Medical Academy, which later exonerated him.
"After what happened, my blood pressure rose. I started suffering from insomnia and often wake up at night. I appealed the coercive administrative measures. When the case for the license plate reached the court, they said that the expert report from the Military Medical Academy was not yet ready and they would demand that it be prepared more quickly. The next case was scheduled for June - three months later. The decision on the car case was issued in April. There, the court categorically accepted that I was innocent. On April 22, I received the court decision stating that the MMA expertise proves that there is no alcohol or narcotics in my blood and urine," Akif said.
And he added: "They told me that the case should be concluded on June 8 and only then will I be able to get my driving license back. The judge postponed the case to June in March, as he was going on vacation. At that time, there were still no results from the MMA. Then the expertise came out and it was negative, but I still don't have a license. I have a car that was returned to me, but I don't have a driving license", he claims.
And he shares that because of his confiscated license, he has difficulty getting to work. "I have a 7-year-old child who lives about 80 kilometers from Sofia. It is extremely difficult for me to see him and travel together,", said the injured driver.