About 70,000 pieces of cigarettes without tax stamps were seized during an operation in the village of Dobroslavtsi in the Sofia "Novi Iskar" district. This happened during a joint operation of the "Economic Police" department at the Sofia Internal Affairs Directorate and officers of the 9th Regional Police Department. One person has been detained. This was announced at a briefing by the deputy head of the "Economic Police" department Commissioner Kristiyan Kostov of the State Directorate of Internal Affairs, quoted by Nova TV.
He stressed that the arrested person is a criminal. He has been detained before for similar crimes. The value of the illegal cigarettes has yet to be clarified, as the relevant expert examinations are yet to be conducted.
"The prosecutor's office is yet to make a decision on whether to detain the person for up to 72 hours", Commissioner Kostov emphasized. He added: "According to the available information, the cigarettes were intended mainly for the domestic market, but export abroad is not ruled out. This is yet to be proven further".
Kostov stressed that this is a "large quantity" of illegal cigarettes. "In previous cases, during routine checks, we have detected significantly smaller quantities. "You could say this is one of the largest caught to date," he said.