As part of an ongoing police operation codenamed "Border", a customs officer from the border crossing point of Lessovo, on the Turkey border, has been arrested for taking bribes, police announced on July 5 2010.

According to the private Bulgarian television channel bTV, the latest officer arrested was a woman.

Interior Ministry launched the police operation, codenamed "Border", in a bid to quash corrupt police practices on the Kapitan Andreevo border frontier checkpoint with Turkey, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced on June 30 2010.

The operation is being conducted by units from the Internal Police department along with the Interior Ministry and the chief directorate for combating organised crime CDCOC.

The new arrest is a follow-up to the action at Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint at the beginning of July. The action was prompted by systematic complaints from Bulgarian nationals and foreign tourists, who said they were being "blackmailed and harassed" by customs officers.

According to media reports, the officers arrested recently are still under investigation.

The officers detained at the beginning of the operation, a Bulgarian border policeman and a customs officer, were placed under surveillance for a period of two months, which showed them taking regular bribes of between five and 20 euro, reports said.

This is the latest in a series of moves by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), which has been in power for one year,  to crack down on crime and corruption. Since GERB came to power, the Interior Ministry has arrested dozens of members of powerful criminal gangs suspected of money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking, bribery and tax frauds.

The raids have been part of the efforts of the government to shake off the country's notorious reputation for organised crime and corruption.

When operation Border was launched last week, Interior Minister Tsvetanov said that several companies that frequented the border crossing had been "tagged" by Bulgarian police in order to collect evidence.

"The systematic abuse has been going on for years. We have received numerous complaints in the past from EC countries and no one did anything about it. We will put an end to it," Tsvetanov said at a press conference.