12 tonnes of Moroccan hashish seized in Mirovyane warehouse
Bulgarian police found 12 tonnes of Moroccan hashish in a warehouse in Mirovyane near Sofia, the country's largest cannabis seizure in 15 years. The anti-organised-crime agency valued the haul at about 360 million euros on 5 July 2012.
Bulgarian police seized12 tons of hashish from a warehouse in Mirovyane, a village near the capital Sofia.[1]Staminir Florov, the director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) within the Interior Ministry, announced the seizure on Thursday, valuing the cannabis resin at about 360 million euros (445 million US dollars) and saying it was destined for the European Union market.[1]
A Moroccan shipment via the Black Sea
The hashish came from Morocco, and the authorities believe fishermen transported it via the Black Sea.[1]The seizure beat a 4-tonne cannabis seizure days earlier in Vidin, a city on the Romanian border, and the authorities believe the two shipments may be linked.[1]Bulgaria had emerged as a major cannabis producer over the previous three years, according to the International Narcotics Control Board, and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported production and use rising in the country, traditionally supplied with Moroccan cannabis.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Cannabis
12 t
Value (official estimate)
EUR 360,000,000
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Hashish
Activity
Smuggling
Setting
Home, Other building
Case stage
Under investigation
Route
Morocco → Bulgaria
Sources
OCCRPoccrp.orgBulgaria: Largest Cannabis Seizure in 15 Years
Open questions the AI reported
Only one outlet's account of the seizure was found, so no second source confirms the figures.
The report is dated at the agency's announcement on Thursday 5 July 2012; the article itself was published on 6 July and gives no separate date for the seizure.
The Moroccan origin and the fishermen-via-the-Black-Sea route are the investigators' account, not independently verified findings.
A 4-tonne seizure days earlier in Vidin, possibly linked, is a separate event left out here.
Bulgarian customs, Interior Ministry officers and prosecutors stopped a freight truck on the entry lane at the Kulata border checkpoint and found nearly 500 kg of marijuana. The weight was reported only from unofficial information, with official details on the case still awaited.
Agents of Bulgaria's anti-organised-crime directorate seized about 12 kg of marijuana from a farm building on a property in Smirnentsi, near Harmanli, and detained the 46-year-old man who managed it. Prosecutors in Haskovo opened a pre-trial investigation.
Agents of Bulgaria's anti-organised-crime directorate detained two men in a search of a property in Chelnik, Yambol region, and found about 3 kg of marijuana packed in bags and hidden in a beehive in the yard. Prosecutors in Yambol opened a pre-trial investigation, and the raid was one of two operations in Yambol and Haskovo that ended with three detentions and about 15 kg of marijuana seized.
Police in Bulgaria's Veliko Tarnovo region seized about 0.5 grams of cannabis from a 54-year-old lorry passenger on 3 November 2026 and detained him for up to 24 hours. The same day officers in Vodoley village found a 27-year-old woman with marijuana and cocaine, opening a case file with no weight or detention reported.
