A joint operation by Bulgaria’s Customs Agency, the Ministry of the Interior and the prosecution service was carried out at the Kulata border checkpoint, where officers stopped a freight truck travelling on the designated entry lane into the country.[1] The truck was entering Bulgaria from Greece.[2] During the subsequent inspection of the heavy-goods truck combination, the checking officers found nearly 500 kilograms of marijuana in the transported load.[1] The Bulgarian driver was detained.[3][2] The marijuana was found in a specially built hide in a freight vehicle driven by a Bulgarian driver.[3][2] Infomrezha expressly presented the nearly 500-kilogram quantity as unofficial information provided to its own newsroom rather than as a confirmed official measurement.[1]

Official information from the competent institutions on the circumstances of the case and on the value of the seized narcotic quantity was still awaited when the report was published.[1] Struma said a similar quantity had not been seized at the Kulata crossing in recent years and put the value at several million euros.[3] The report described the Kulata interception as another serious blow against organised trafficking through this border checkpoint.[1] It added that in recent weeks the Kulata crossing had been at the centre of several large-scale investigations linked to the smuggling of excise goods.[1]