Customs officers have seized a Polish-registered lorry at the Kulata border crossing carrying 8,999,160 cigarettes without Bulgarian excise stamps, worth €1,789,852.80, the Customs Agency said.

The driver, a Polish national, has been charged on a prosecutor's order and can be held for up to 72 hours. Blagoevgrad district prosecutors will ask a court to keep him in custody.

Officers stopped the lorry near the crossing on Tuesday, 6 October. It was travelling from Greece to Bulgaria and was picked for a check under a risk analysis.

Inside the truck and trailer, officers found metal boxes of cigarettes from three brands, 449,958 boxes in all.

Prosecutors opened a pre-trial case under Article 234, paragraph 3, point 3, in conjunction with paragraph 1, second alternative, of the Criminal Code, for holding a large amount of cigarettes without Bulgarian excise stamps. The supervising prosecutor is from the Petrich branch of the Blagoevgrad district prosecutor's office.

The Customs Agency and Blagoevgrad district prosecutors will hold a joint briefing on the case on Friday, 9 October, at the Kulata customs office. The time will be announced later.