Bulgarian Traffic Police Take Bribes From Foreigners

Bulgarian traffic policemen taking bribes from foreigners have been commonplace for years in Bulgaria. I know of many English travellers who have been through the process and extremely bitter about it. There is nowhere they can complain about it and therefore nothing they could do about it. It seems that over the years this was normal and expected now. Whether this will be the case now and make a precedent remains to be seen, somehow though I doubt it.

Two traffic police officers were caught red-handed, accepting a bribe from a Romanian citizen. They were apprehended by a mobile unit of Interior Security and subsequently driven to the municipal directorate in the northeastern city of Rousse, Dnevnik daily has reported.

A Romanian driver was stopped for a traffic offence whereupon he handed euro to the policemen. The amount was duly pocketed, without an official sanction being issued. The exact amount involved is undisclosed, but the culprits were spotted by a police unit in an unmarked vehicle.

The scene occurred on the main road leading from Rousse to Byala. The driver of the Opel Astra, who had Romanian registration, had overtaken a vehicle at a forbidden section of the road. After what reportedly was described a "brief verbal conversation, euro were exchanged".

A case has been opened under the penal codex, chapter 283 article 3.

Source: www.sofiaecho.com