Smuggling

Romaina Border Police intercept antique smugglers

The smuggling of cultural and historical values ​​was prevented by officers of the Border Police and customs officers. A truck with a foreign registration arrived at the Vidin border checkpoint. The driver, a Turkish citizen, presented regular documents for the transported goods – fish During the inspection, border guards noticed that he, as well as the other driver, seemed worried.

The car was selected by the method of “risk analysis” for a thorough customs inspection, in which in the closets on both sides along the trailer, behind stacks of water, were found five packages of antiques. A metal breastplate, a stone statue of a lion, metal figurines and fragments, a casting of a metal leg, probably from a statue, were found. The objects have been confiscated, a complex archeological assessment is to be made. Pre-trial proceedings were instituted in the case by an investigating border policeman from the Vidin GPU under the supervision of the district prosecutor’s office.

The cargo established by the competent authorities shall be subject to a special declaration, authorization and export regime. The attempt to export cultural property across the border was carried out without a permit under the Cultural Heritage Act. The act is criminal and has an extremely high degree of public danger. The Penal Code provides for a sentence of three to ten years “imprisonment” and a fine of five thousand to fifty thousand levs.

A 47-year-old Turkish citizen was brought in as a defendant in the case. The man was detained for up to 72 hours by a decree of the prosecutor from the District Prosecutor’s Office – Vidin. It is now known that the accused should have received a certain remuneration for the transfer of the antiquities. A request has been prepared for the imposition of a measure of restraint “detention in custody” against the foreigner who does not have an address registration on the territory of Bulgaria.