Romanian customs and border police discovered 24 drones worth more than RON 1 million in a Bulgarian-registered van near the Calafat-Vidin bridge. The driver was unable to provide documents establishing the origin of the equipment.
The vehicle was stopped for inspection near the bridge’s toll station while reportedly traveling from Bulgaria to Germany. Mobile customs teams from Craiova and Calafat conducted the inspection with border police officers.
Inside the cargo compartment, officers found the drones and two smart flight batteries. Several of the aircraft were equipped with advanced photography, filming and thermal-imaging systems, and could fly at high altitude.
“The equipment was fitted with thermal-imaging cameras and had the capacity to fly at high altitude,” the customs authority said.
Two of the drones were designed for transportation and could each carry loads of up to 80 kilograms. Authorities said they were similar to drones used in cigarette-smuggling operations.
The seized goods were valued at RON 1.011 million and were held pending confiscation. The van was taken to the Craiova Regional Customs Directorate, where the equipment was placed in storage.
The driver received a RON 15,000 administrative fine for the irregularities identified during the inspection.