Contraband Cigs in Coffins, Bulgaria News
Contrabandist has been caught transporting millions of illegal cigs around Bulgaria in coffins and even hiring hearses to throw investigators off the smell. Head of the Bulgarian customs agency Vanyo Tanov argued state BNT television on Tuesday the smugglers also concealed some vehicles as ambulances. The public statement came after authorities seized 25 million contraband tobacco products. Four shiny coffins and boxes labelled as containing broccoli were found along with the contraband at a depot in the capital Sofia, the agency declared in a declaration.
The cigarettes were likely to have come from Dubai, it explained, adding that it was the biggest contraband cigarettes bust in Bulgaria in over eight years, with unpaid excise duties total to 3.5 million leva ($A2.21 million).
Bulgaria has the most eager smokers in Europe after Greece, with 44 percent of its 7.4 million inhabitants smoking cigs regularly.
Over the past two years, it has seen a steep increase in demand for unlawful cigarettes following a tax increase on tobacco products in line with EU ordinances.
Approximately 15 percent of cigarettes sold in Bulgaria are contraband, down from 30 percent in 2010 thanks to regular busts, according to the customs agency.
Over 170 countries enforced on Monday in Seoul a global pact for to stop the smuggling and counterfeiting of all tobacco products, which accounts for 11 percent of the international tobacco market and costs governments an estimated $40 billion in lost tax income.
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