Fake cigarettes seized
Cigarette smuggling in Poland has increased significantly as the country has raised tobacco taxes to comply with European Union membership requirements.
Bulgarian customs agents have seized 5.9 tons of counterfeit cigarettes at a border crossing with Romania, according to a Xinhua News Agency story.
Officials in Sofia were quoted as saying yesterday that the cigarettes were seized at the Danube Bridge checkpoint near Vidin, Bulgaria.
The cigarette packs, which were said to have carried the brand logo of a popular [but unnamed] English cigarette brand, were found in a truck traveling to western Europe, the National Customs Agency (NCA) said in a press note. The trademark owner had been notified.
The shipment was declared only as cardboard, the NCA said.
Bulgaria is a favorite transit country for those involved in illegal trade.
Last year, the NCA seized 51.2 million cigarettes and 5.4 tons of tobacco, along with other non-tobacco-related goods.