During the week between 12th and 18th of December 2005, a joint operation involving the Ministry of Finance (the Bulgarian Customs Agency and the Chief Tax Directorate) took place in cooperation with the National Service for Combating Organised Crime, Economic Police and Border Police. The Crown Agents assisted with planning and implementation of the exercise. The main aim of the operation was to reduce the smuggling of excisable goods, mainly cigarettes and alcohol, from the duty-free shops at the border checkpoints by:

• Examinations of people crossing the border, aimed at identification, control and confiscation of illegally imported cigarettes;
• Constant invigilation of duty-free shops; MATs attend the premises during the whole of the business day, and observe and note all trading and other activities.

RESULTS

• A total of 4359 challenges of people passing through the border crossings were made for the whole week. 1327 of the challenges, or 30.44%, were successful i.e. violations were detected.
• A total of 768 431 pieces of cigarettes were confiscated, and thus losses of 84 527 BGN to the state budget were prevented due only to this operation. Based on the data for this particular week the potential annual losses for the budget from smuggling of cigarettes only through Kapitan Andreevo, Kulata and Kalotina can be estimated at 4 395 425 BGN.
• Data for the turnover of the duty-free shops during the operation was collected. These figures were compared to their average turnovers for a period of one month prior to the beginning of the operation. It was determined that while being invigilated the turnover of the duty-free shops had dropped significantly - by almost 40%.
• The highest decrease of turnover, by 54.25%, was recorded for the duty-free shops at the Kulata border crossing, followed by Kapitan Andreevo (42.09%) and Kalotina (36.12%).

Press Centre
Ministry of Finance
Bulgaria