Heroin traffic biggest problem, due to Balkan route: customs official

“Bulgaria, just like any other country, faces problems with the drugs and their distribution,” said Stefan Bakalov, head of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Department with the Sofia Airport Customs, in an interview with FOCUS News Agency. “Here we are faced with a combination of several kinds of traffic – traffic of heroin, traffic of cocaine, traffic of amphetamines. The heroin trafficking is the biggest problem, since Bulgaria is in the so-called Balkan route. The good thing in this ‘bad’ geographic location is that the Balkan route has an offset and the heroin traffic now is not completely orientated through it. Over the last 3-4 years there were branches to the routes through the former Soviet republics and mostly to Russia,” Bakalov remarked. In his words, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report – 2012 of the United States Department of State, which was released a week ago, accounts that in January-November 2011 the Bulgarian customs have seized 246 kilos of heroin, 0.6 kilos of cocaine, 17 kilos of synthetic drugs, 15.6 kilos of marihuana, 2.5 kilos of opinion and 16.8 kilos of hashish. “For the entire 2011 the heroin seized by the Customs Agency runs to around 300 kilos, which is 1/3 more compared to 2010,” he added.