Bulgaria’s Border Police foil bid to smuggle 250 000 medical masks out of country
Bulgarian Border Police found 250 000 surgical masks during an inspection of a Turkish-registerd lorry at Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint late on the night of March 15.
The driver is being penalised for violating customs regulations. Bulgaria has banned the export of protective equipment, including masks, as a step against Covid-19 coronavirus.
This is the third such bust that Bulgaria has announced.
Bulgarian police confiscated 20 000 surgical masks from a Romanian citizen attempting to take them out of the country, the Interior Ministry said on March 11.
On March 9, at the Kapitan Petko Voivoda checkpoint, a car driven by a Greek citizen was stopped.
In the car, Border Police found 7850 medical protective masks. The masks, which had no certificate of origin, were seized.
Meanwhile, Border Police barred a Serbian citizen from entering the country at the Vrushka Chuka checkpoint on March 15 after he was found to have a temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius.
Also barred from entry at the same checkpoint was a Romanian citizen who had a temperature of 38.6 degrees.
(Photo: Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry)
