Bulgaria seizes 288 kilos of heroin

SOFIA: Bulgarian customs officials confiscated more than 288 kilograms of heroin hidden on a truck from Iran, prosecutors announced on Thursday.

The haul is the biggest amount of heroin seized at Bulgaria’s borders this year, the customs agency said. Two men -- the Iranian truck driver and a Turkish man, who was allegedly to receive the drugs in Bulgaria -- were detained and indicted for drug trafficking, the Haskovo regional prosecution said in a statement.

The drugs were placed in 144 packages hidden inside the floor and ceiling of a spray painting machine transported inside the truck. It was found when the vehicle was x-rayed upon entering Bulgaria from Turkey at the southeastern Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint on Sunday, but the seizure was only announced on Thursday.

Bulgaria, which lies on the so-called Balkan drugs route from the Middle East to Western Europe, has seen a several-fold increase in heroin seizures over the past three years. In 2018, the customs agency confiscated a total of 994 kilos of heroin at the country’s borders, a rise of 13 percent from 2017.