Bulgarian Interior Ministry Probes Customs' Officers Work Sofia_News_Agency - 2005/11/20
Bulgaria will launch an investigation into the work of the custom's officers and will prepare a report with the names of those involved in contraband channels, Interior Minister Rumen Petkov announced Sunday.
The report on the contraband channels, the people who organize them and the customs officers involved in these illegal dealings will be handed to Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and to Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski within 10 days.
The interior minister told journalists that the cooperation between the Interior Ministry, the Customs ‘ Agency, the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigation is still very poor, but vowed to improve that fact.
Bulgaria is within the range of international terror organizations in view of the country's participation in the world antiterrorism coalition, Minister Petkov also said.
At the international "Risks to Security and Transformation: Euro-Atlantic and Regional Perspectives" conference Minister Petkov once again stressed that one of the main goals of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry is to limit traffic and contraband through Bulgaria, thus blocking the opportunities of the terror groups using these channels.
Petkov also urged for the speeding up of the negotiations for boosting the cooperation of Europol with the countries from the Western Balkans.