Bulgaria: Bulgarian police seize 276 kg of amphetamines

SOFIA: Bulgarian police have seized 276 kg (607 pounds) of amphetamine pills bound for Arab countries with a street value of more than 40 million dollars, the Interior Ministry said today.

Police arrested two men in a drugs laboratory -- a Bulgarian and a Turkish citizen -- near the southern Bulgarian town of Harmanli, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It was the latest in a string of major drug busts in the Balkan state, which has long served as a key route for smugglers moving goods between Asia and Western Europe.

In January police made their largest haul ever, seizing chemicals that could produce 1.4 billion dollars worth of amphetamines.

Brussels has warned Bulgaria, which aims to join the European Union in 2007, to shore up its porous borders, crack down on organised crime and enforce the rule of law better or it will postpone its membership by a year until 2008.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: Sat, 20th August 2005
Source: newkerala.com (India Web)
Author: Reuters
Contact: http://news.newkerala.com/about/support.php
Copyright: 2005 newkerala.com
Website: http://www.newkerala.com/