1998 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report

Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
United States Department of State
February 26, 1999

BULGARIA

I. Summary

Bulgaria, centrally located on the Balkan Route, remains an important transit route between Turkey and Western Europe for Southwest Asian heroin and Southeast Asian marijuana. Bulgarian authorities seized important quantities of South American cocaine in 1998, and the heroin-essential chemical acetic anhydride en route to Turkey. Bulgaria cultivates very small amounts of cannabis. Bulgaria is a party to the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. In 1998, the Bulgarian Government enacted a new money laundering law aimed at strengthening the existing 1996 law, and is drafting other criminal laws which will support the law against narcotics. These include a drugs and precursors control act, which is now being coordinated among ministries. The Bulgarian Government also stepped up regional counter-narcotics cooperation, and continues to require schools to offer a demand reduction program. Law enforcement authorities cooperated actively with U.S. and third-country counterparts on counternarcotics cases and issues.

II. Status of Country

Bulgaria is a significant drug-transit country centrally located on three traditional Balkan Routes between Turkey and, respectively, Serbia, Romania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The main illegal drug transiting Bulgaria is heroin from the Golden Crescent and South Asian sources, though marijuana and cocaine also transit Bulgaria. The Northern Balkan Route from Turkey through Bulgaria to Romania is the most frequently used overland route, though there are others through Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The precursor chemical acetic anhydride, possibly produced in Bulgaria or coming from Macedonia, is transported from or through Bulgaria to Turkey. In 1998, cocaine seizures were up and heroin seroin seizures were down.

Small quantities of opium poppies and cannabis are grown in Bulgaria. Clandestine labs produce amphetamines, and diverted acetic anhydride is transported from Bulgaria to Turkey. In 1998, Bulgarian authorities found and eradicated 34.6 ha of cannabis, up from 21 ha in 1997 and 8.3 ha in 1996. However, law enforcement officials do not routinely calculate crop size or yields for illegal narcotics crops. When necessary, case-specific determination is made based on the weight of dry leaves yielded from one square meter times the dimensions of the field. In general, yield calculations for illegal narcotics crops are difficult because it is not unusual, for example, to find cannabis hidden in a field of maize.

The drug abuse problem in Bulgaria is small but growing. In this country of 8.3 million, government experts estimate that, there are 40,000-50,000 heroin users. Although they disagree on the exact number, they agree that the number is increasing. Fewer than ten percent of users are in treatment. Cocaine is too expensive for all but the wealthy. Marijuana has traditionally been used in rural areas. "Ecstasy" is an important and growing problem in universities. Increases in drug consumption have been particularly noteworthy among the marginalized Roma population, among whom glue sniffing is a problem, as well as in prisons, in some localized geographic areas and among traffickers.

For at least the last few years, demand reduction has been receiving increased attention in Bulgaria. The Ministry of Education requires the teaching in schools nationwide of health promotion modules on substance abuse. There is also a WHO program for health promotion in 30 target schools. The Bulgarian National Center for Addictions provides training seminars on drug abuse for school teachers nationwide. There are also municipal demand reduction programs co-sponsored by the National Center for Addictions and the Institute of Public Health in six major cities and a number of smaller communities. Three universities provide professional training in drug prevention or drug treatment.

There has been no change in the number of major treatment units: 35 outpatient units and ten-twelve inpatient facilities nationwide. The National Center for Addictions has psychiatric units in 20 regional centers. Specialized professional training in drug treatment and demand reduction has been provided through programs sponsored by UNDCP, EU-PHARE and the Council of Europe's Pompidou Group.

III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 1998

Policy Initiatives. Backed by a President of the same party, the Bulgarian Government has made combating administrative corruption and organized crime policy priorities since it came to power in May 1997. Measures introduced by the Government include wide-reaching anti-crime legislation. A new money laundering law passed in July 1998.

Complying with its obligations under the 1988 UN Drug Convention, in 1998 Bulgaria drew up a new drug law ("Drugs and Precursors Control Act"), which it hopes to have in force by early 1999. Further, an inter-ministerial council is working to establish a new counternarcotics strategy for the next three-year period. Within the National Service for Combating Organized Crime, which places a heavy emphasis on counternarcotics, restructuring will allow four separate teams of enforcement officers and analysts to target:

-- General problems of drug production, trading and distribution;

-- Developments in heroin trafficking along the Balkan Route(s) through Bulgaria;

-- Cocaine; and

-- Cannabis and synthetic drugs.

There is a renewed emphasis, among the criminal police, on street distribution and blocking of sales at schools, youth associations, and other sites targeted by traffickers. A money laundering bill, drafted with U.S. Department of Treasury advice, entered into effect in October 1998 and will serve to strengthen the counternarcotics effort. Finally, assistance from the European Union's PHARE program will allow several government agencies to improve their efforts.

Accomplishments. Significant accomplishments in 1998 included drawing up a national narcotics strategy and the new, tougher drug law. PHARE cooperation, regional agreements and agreements with Western European states have widened the resources available to Bulgarian law enforcement agencies.

Law Enforcement Efforts. In 1998, Bulgaria continued its successful interdiction efforts, measured inter alia by the number of seizures and quantity of drugs seized (including a 600 kilogram cocaine seizure at the Black Sea port of Varna). The number of seizures of illegal narcotics at border posts increased slightly to 35 (11 months), with cocaine seizures up sharply (to 7 in 1998 from 2 in 1997). However, heroin remains the drug most often seized. Heroin quantities seized diminished in 1998 (11 months) to 158 kilograms from 311.6 kilograms in 1997; the quantities of tablets seized increased from 11,900 in 1997 to 62,000 in 1998. Seizures at internal points paralleled those at ports of entry, except that marijuana seizures were more important both quantitatively and relatively. In 1998, Bulgarian authorities seized 752.7 kilograms of marijuana (compared with 214.6 kilograms in 1997 and 547.0 kilograms in 1996). Bulgarian authorities destroyed three illicit laboratories in 1998, compared with 2 in 1997 and arrested 232 persons, compared with 151 in 1997 and 80 in 1996.

Law enforcement agencies have focused on the fight against organized crime and its trafficking component and, despite stringent budget limitations, have funded hiring of new counternarcotics analysts to gather and interpret intelligence. Law enforcement agencies have taken more aggressive action to control laboratories and the use/production of precursors. The common complaint however, is that financial resources for counternarcotics programs remain inadequate.

Corruption. Despite improvements in 1997 and 1998, corruption continues to be widespread in Bulgaria, including among police and customs officials. The USG, however, has no specific information that senior Bulgarian Government officials are involved in drug trafficking or other narcotics- related crimes. The Government, in place since May 1997, has made the fight against organized crime and corruption major priorities in its program, and is pressing forward with an extensive legislative reform effort strengthening anti-crime legislation.

Agreements and Treaties. Bulgaria is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention and its 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1990 Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime. The US/Bulgarian Extradition Treaty dates from 1924. Bulgaria is also party to the 1957 Council of Europe Convention on Extradition, the 1959 European Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Penal Measures, and the 1983 Council of Europe Convention on Transfer of Sentenced Persons. It also has a bilateral treaty with Turkey for transfer of convicted persons. Bulgarian Customs has memorandums of understanding on mutual assistance and cooperation with several European counterparts and is negotiating or updating others.

IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs

Bilateral Cooperation. Bilateral cooperation between U.S. and Bulgarian law enforcement officials has remained excellent, aided by the formation of a bilateral Law Enforcement Working Group in 1998 to improve cooperation and coordination in providing assistance to Bulgarian law enforcement agencies. U.S. bilateral assistance has focused on border control, including a land border interdiction course offered by the U.S. Customs Service. As well, Bulgarian law enforcement officials received FBI training in auto theft investigations, ILEA mid-level police training and a USSS course in financial fraud that included a DEA component on narcotics- related money laundering. Through the INL-funded program, the USG has also provided advisory assistance to the Bulgarian Government in the drafting of money laundering legislation and reform of the penal code and procedural penal code.

The Road Ahead. The USG will continue to promote increased Bulgarian Government attention to the problems of narcotics trafficking and money laundering; support Bulgarian law enforcement and anti-crime legislative reform efforts; and encourage further cooperation between Bulgarian and U.S. law enforcement agencies, including DEA, the FBI and Customs. It will work with the Bulgarian Government, in the bilateral working group context, to identify law enforcement training, advisory and equipment needs, and to provide limited assistance to meet those needs. The USG will also promote counternarcotics cooperation with regional and western European countries, and encourage western European assistance and UNDCP support for Bulgarian law enforcement authorities.