23rd Oct 2025
The police activities were undertaken as part of the 10th joint operation Neptune 7 of Interpol directed towards the movement of foreign terrorist fighters using maritime, land or air routes through the Mediterranean Sea. The operation, conducted in the end of August and the beginning of September, included 13 countries from Europe – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Bulgaria was represented by General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, General Directorate of the Border Police, International Operational Cooperation Directorate and the Customs Agency. Checks were carried out in the INTERPOL databases for lost/stolen documents, resulting in four matches; 14 matches were found in the databases for wanted persons; three for stolen motor vehicles.
During police operations at the Kalotina Border Crossing Point (BCP), a German citizen was checked upon entering the country and found to be wanted by the UK authorities for crimes related to terrorism.
During the operation, customs authorities discovered 5.9 kg of marijuana at the Kapitan Andreevo BCP hidden in a gas cylinder in a car with Bulgarian registration, as well as €102,000 hidden in a truck driven by a Turkish citizen. At the same BCP, 173 packages of marijuana with a total weight of 194.102 kg were also found in a semi-trailer truck driven by a Serbian citizen. At the same BCP, a joint inspection found 20 undeclared silver bars with a total weight of 20 kg, transported in a car with Bulgarian registration.
In another case, at the Vasil Levski Airport BCP in Sofia, a citizen of the country arrived on a flight from Cyprus. It was established that a person with the same name, a Russian citizen, was wanted by Interpol on a red notice at the request of the bureau in Beirut, Lebanon, for importing explosive materials into Lebanon, premeditated murder, a terrorist act resulting in death, and deactivating machinery with the intention of sinking a ship. After expert inquiries, it was clarified that the person detained at entry was identical to the person sought by the Lebanese authorities. He was arrested and a court decision is pending with a view to his extradition.
Official coverage of the Interpol Neptune VII operation can be found at the following address: