Acting Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry Lyubomir Nikolov said Bulgarian authorities have found no evidence that fentanyl produced in the recently dismantled laboratory in Sofia was exported abroad, stressing that all identified shipments were intercepted before leaving the country.
Speaking after police uncovered an illegal fentanyl production facility in Sofia's Faculty district, Nikolov said investigators have "not detected a single gram of imported or exported fentanyl." According to him, all available evidence indicates that the drug was produced in Bulgaria and distributed through domestic trafficking networks.
The investigation began about four months ago in Ruse, where police first detected fentanyl shipments being sent from Sofia to other parts of the country. The probe eventually led officers to the production site, where they observed individuals entering daily wearing protective equipment and handling hazardous substances.
"The moment we established that individuals were entering the base daily with protective equipment and working with dangerous substances, we immediately moved in, because every gram released onto the market caused enormous harm," Nikolov said.
Authorities said all materials seized from the laboratory are now being analyzed. While not every substance found is prohibited, Nikolov described the quality of the fentanyl as "quite good." He added that police disrupted several planned drug deals and intercepted supplies through parallel operations targeting dealers in multiple cities.
