Bulgarian Customs, Police Nab 70 kg Heroin at Turkish Border

70 kg of heroin were busted at Kapitan Andreevo on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian customs and anti-mafia police officers have busted a massive drug trafficking channel from Turkey, capturing heroin shipments of over 70 kg worth some BGN 6 M.

The channel was busted the night of July 6 when customs officers at the Kapitan-Andreevo crossing point on the border with Turkey inspected a car with 32-year-old driver from Bulgaria's Svilengrad, with license plates from the district capital Haskovo. The man's family was also in traveling in the car.

In the trunk of the car they found a 30-liter plastic container with green detergent, containing also 31 packages of heroin.

With a follow-up intervention of the unit for combating organized crime GDBOP in Haskovo, massive heroin shipments were found in three other cars coming in from Turkey.

A second car with a family from Svilengrad arrived at Kapitan Andreevo an hour after the first, and then a third car with license plates from Bulgaria's Yambol, also bringing home a Bulgarian family, was busted shortly after that. Both of these cars contained similar plastic containers with detergent and heroin hidden inside them.

Subsequently, heroin was found hidden in baby dipers in a van with 5 adults and one child inspected at Kapitan Andreevo. After they were alerted by the Bulgarian side, the Turkish authorities found a fourth plastic container with detergent and heroin packages.

A total of 10 "mules" were arrested by the Bulgarian police, together with a Roma mafia boss from Plovdiv, who is believed to have ordered the shipment of the drugs.

When they were interrogated, the mules told the police they were paid only BGN 5 for transporting a detergent container.

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