Turkish border authorities discovered more than 700 kg of heroin hidden in a truck at the Bulgarian border.
Macedonian news reports that this was “the largest amount of drugs ever confiscated on Turkish border crossings."
Border authorities stopped a truck in the early morning hours carrying dishwashers, washing machines, and LCD TVs at the Hamzabeyli-Lesovo checkpoint. While searching it, they found some 1,400 packages of heroin stashed among the appliances. The shipment was loaded in Istanbul and was to be delivered in Bosnia and Herzegovina after transit in Bulgaria.
The vehicle had Croatian registration and the driver was a Croatian citizen. The driver was arrested and is now is custody and the contents of the truck were seized.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was likely just a layover point for the drugs, which probably were bound for Europe. BiH has become a warehousing country where heroin from Afghanistan is routed and then distributed using connections through the large Bosnian diaspora community living around Europe. Often heroin along with other narcotics are moved along what is known as the “Balkan Route” which goes through Croatia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.