Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

The director of the Plovdiv customs has been detained

Photo: BGNES

The director of the Plovdiv customs, Miroslav Belyashki, has been detained. He was arrested for patronizing a new cigarette smuggling channel, linked to the so-called "cigarette king" Nikola Nikolov - Pascal, who has been on the run from justice in Serbia for months.


The arrested director of the Plovdiv customs was appointed to the post in mid-March 2024 by the then director of the Customs Agency, Petya Bankova, who was then arrested in an investigation into smuggling channels.

Sources from the Plovdiv customs commented that a few days ago, Belyashki personally tried to patronize the passage of a TIR truck with smuggled cigarettes, which was supposed to transit through Bulgaria, but was stopped at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey following a signal from foreign services.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Farmers' union urges action to support agriculture

In an open letter to Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and the Ministers of Agriculture, Finance and Economy, the Bulgarian Farmers' Union calls for new financial mechanisms to support, revitalise and stimulate Bulgarian agriculture . The appeal is driven..

published on 4/29/25 2:36 PM

NSI: Bulgaria's population continues to shrink

Bulgaria's population was 6,437,360 at the end of 2024, down by 8,121 people (0.13%) from the previous year, according to the National Statistical Institute. All 28 regions recorded negative natural growth. As of December 31, 2024, there were..

published on 4/29/25 1:43 PM

BNR now delivers news through an AI avatar

The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) is successfully integrating artificial intelligence into its programmes. The public radio’s news is now read by an AI avatar trained in Bulgarian, operating in a virtual environment. One year after the public..

published on 4/29/25 11:32 AM