Another Crack-Down on Customs Officers in Bulgaria

The customs officers and representatives of an unnamed company were supposed to burn cigarettes packages with expired excise stamps, but they hid them away instead. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian police have detained four customs officers in an operation, code-named “The strokers”, the interior minister announced Wednesday morning.

The customs officers and representatives of an unnamed company were supposed to burn cigarettes packages with expired excise stamps, but they hid them away instead.

“The company first lied to the state that it destroyed the cigarettes packages and then the state paid the company for the service,” Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov fumed as he spoke to the Bulgarian National Radio.

The center-right government elected last July has taken a harder line on crime and graft than its predecessor.

Over the last one year Bulgarian police arrested dozens of members of powerful crime gangs suspected of money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking, bribery and tax frauds.

The raids have been part of the efforts of the government to shake off the country's reputation for rampant graft and crime.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!