The Customs Agency deposited a total of 6,266 million Bulgarian leva in Bulgaria's Executive Budget, about 279 million leva more than planned, it emerged at a news conference on Tuesday, BTA reported.

Revenues for the first nine months went up by 1,146 million leva compared to the same period of 2007 and by 1,177 million leva compared to the same period of 2006.

The agency expects 8,361 million leva in annual revenues, compared to the planned 7,982 million leva.

For the eight months of this year, the agency has prevented 1,001.5 million euro damages to trade mark owners by discovering smuggling channels, Customs Agency head Hristo Koulishev said. This ranks Bulgaria among the first 10 European countries fighting smugglers of goods, Koulishev added.

The rate of discovering smuggled drugs has recently increased. A total of 792 kg drugs were seized from the beginning of the year until October 12, which makes Bulgaria one of the European leaders in this area too.

In September, the Customs Agency earnings from duties, VAT and excise duties exceeded the forecast by over 26 million leva.

In the first nine months of 2009, the customs authorities drew up a total of 4,394 statements of administrative violations, it emerged at the news conference.

Koulishev said also that two heads of customs offices were laid off, since he had taken his position. One of them was in charge of the customs office in Blagoevgrad (Southwestern Bulgaria) and the other - of that in Svilengrad (Southeastern Bulgaria). Four customs officers were dismissed in 2008. A big number of officers are leaving the Customs due to low wages, he also said. According to Koulishev, this is a problem because it is difficult to find new qualified staffers.