Bulgaria Dismantles Country’s First Fentanyl Lab After Sofia Raid

A screenshot from a video issued by Bulgaria’s General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime on the dismantling of a fentanyl facility in Sofia, August 4, 2026. Bulgarian authorities dismantled the country’s first documented fentanyl manufacturing facility on Tuesday and arrested three suspects on location, the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime said. The lab was located in the Sofia far-end neighbourhood of Fakulteta. Special police found high-tech equipment capable of producing up to ten kilograms of the lethal narcotic daily. “The main producers have been detained and charges are about to be filed, with further arrests expected,” Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said on Tuesday. “The laboratory is extremely sophisticated and the operation is being conducted under strict safety measures because of the danger posed by the fumes.” “The operational work of the officers began in April, when we caught four deals, which indicated that the distribution route led to the Fakulteta neighbourhood – from there the drug is distributed throughout the entire country,” Lyubomir Nikolov, Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior, told National television. The operation is ongoing. In June, 11 people were arrested for fentanyl possession in the same neighbourhood. In July, a 42-year-old woman from the same area was arrested for dealing in the drug. Although the presence of fentanyl in Bulgaria has been talked about by health and addiction prevention activists, authorities have rarely commented on the actual size of the problem. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid originally developed for pain management, particularly in surgical and cancer care settings. According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is roughly 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl has flooded the illegal drug market in North America and other regions, including Europe. Dealers often mix it into heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, weed and counterfeit prescription pills. Many users are not aware that fentanyl is present, which can lead to accidental overdoses. On June 10, a report by the European Union Drug Agency indicated that from 2024 to 2025 there were more than 100 cases of overdoses in Bulgaria caused by fentanyl. Earlier this year, a BIRN investigation looked into how illicit opioids, sometimes even more potent than fentanyl, are finding their way into the Balkans, while concerns have also been mounting in Central Europe.