The “Against Illegal Trading” initiative has made public the results of a survey regarding the increase in the share of smuggled cigarettes on Bulgaria’s domestic market – 6.6 percent over the fourth quarter of last year.

Prime Minister Borissov commented that this was an increase equivalent to “half a pack of cigarettes”, but gave a one-month time limit for putting additional measures in place to curb smuggling. The Prime Minister added there existed a regional dependence as regards contraband, and that the situation was worst in the towns of Svilengrad, Haskovo and Yanbol which lie close to highways, in the vicinity of the country’s borders and which afford easy access to transportation.