Customs and border officers seized nearly 80,000 cigarettes without excise stamps along the Turkish border in the past month, the Interior Ministry said.

Joint checks also found more than 12,000 perfumes and textile and leather goods of protected brands. Officers also found over 600 kg of animal fat with no certificate of fitness. Undeclared goods included food, jewellery, clothes and shoes. Some of the load was hidden in purpose-built compartments in buses.

The checks began after tip-offs from the Inter-Agency Coordination Centre for Countering Smuggling and Controlling the Movement of High-Risk Goods and Cargo, which is attached to the organised crime directorate (GDBOP). The centre coordinates seven state bodies and tracks high-risk vehicles and goods in Bulgaria around the clock.

Customs officers drew up 13 reports for administrative offences. They also collected more than €3,300 in extra state dues.

At the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing alone, officers stopped 11 attempts to smuggle goods between 22 and 26 October. They found undeclared excise and branded goods in cars with Bulgarian and foreign plates.

At the crossing they seized 32,860 cigarettes without stamps, 2,800 perfumes, 727 textile items and 110 accessories, including shoes and bags. They also held nearly 500 grams of silver items and 2,600 packs of sexual stimulants. The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency also stopped the import of 300 kg of sheep tallow with no papers showing where it came from.

A few days ago, officers checked a lorry at the same crossing as it left Bulgaria for Turkey. Among the declared cargo, they found bags of clear plastic packs holding a dry, green, grass-like material. A field test showed it was marijuana.

There were 196 packs, with a total gross weight of 221.730 kg. At the prices courts use, the drugs are worth €1,813,899.