Prosecution charged 20 of the arrested customs officers at Kalotina checkpoint

Charges were pressed against 15 customs officers, 4 border police officers and the Head of Kalotina customs checkpoint for alleged bribe taking, the spokesperson of the Chief Prosecutors, Siika Mileva, said in a briefing on February 7.

The customs and border police officers were alleged to have demanded bribes, mainly from Turkish citizens, to let them cross the border without checks on their loads. The officers asked for the bribes directly. Each of them collected between 800 and 1000 euro per shift. They even returned change.

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More than 30 customs and border police officers from Kalotina border checkpoint (Bulgaria’s border with Serbia), including the head of the customs office, were detained on February 6 in a joint operation of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of interior targeting corruption.

The operation was conducted in the presence of Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor, Ivan Geshev and the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Ivaylo Ivanov.