SOFIA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian customs officers have seized more than 37 kg of heroin at the Danube Bridge checkpoint near Ruse at the border with Romania, officials said here on Tuesday.

The illicit drug, split into 68 packages weighing about 0.550 kg each, was found on Monday morning in secret compartments in the floor of an Italy-registered car when it attempted to leave Bulgaria, the National Customs Agency said in a statement.

The driver of the vehicle, an Albanian citizen permanently residing in Italy, was arrested at the scene.

Authorities estimated the value of the heroin on the black market would exceed 944,000 U.S. dollars.

Bulgaria, a key transit route for drugs smuggled from Asia to Europe, seized 602.6 kg of heroin at its borders in 2017.