SOFIA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A record amount of 14.266 kg of smuggled gold castings worth over 720,000 U.S. dollars was detained at Bulgaria's Lesovo checkpoint on the border with Türkiye, authorities said on Friday.

The precious contraband items were found during an inspection of the body of a truck driver, a Romanian citizen, the National Customs Agency (NCA) announced in a press release.

The truck driven by the Romanian arrived at the checkpoint on Thursday on its way from Romania to Türkiye.

Although the driver stated that he had nothing to declare and he was traveling without cargo to receive goods from Türkiye, the customs officers selected the vehicle for a thorough inspection.

During a personal examination of the driver in the course of the control actions, customs inspectors found a total of 10 casts of yellow metal on the man's body. Eight of them were wrapped around the waist and on his legs and two were hidden in his shoes, the NCA said.

"The expert examination found that each of the castings was made of gold of different purity -- from 10 to 18 carats," the NCA said.

The smuggled gold items were seized, the driver arrested, and pre-trial proceedings have been initiated, the NCA added. Enditem

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