Sofia - Bulgarian customs officials on the border with Romania seized 78 kilos of heroin from a Polish truck and arrested the Polish driver, authorities in Sofia said Friday.

Bulgaria, straddling routes of international drug smugglers, routinely seizes large amounts of heroin on its borders with Turkey to the south, Romania to the north and Serbia to the east.

Some 19 tons of narcotics have been incinerated in Bulgaria since 2000, but it is certain that much more has slipped through. Apart from the West-bound heroin, chemicals, amphetamines and other substances are also smuggled across the Balkan country's soil.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and has so become a direct gateway for the smugglers traversing from the Middle East to Western Europe and vice versa. (dpa)