North Macedonia Busts Cocaine Smuggling Gang Linked to Murders
January 26, 202411:13
Six people were arrested as North Macedonia cracks a criminal gang operating around the capital smuggling cocaine from South America and carrying out mafia-style murders.
North Macedonia’s outgoing Interiror Minister, Oliver Spasovski, at a press conferrence in Skopje. Photo: vlada.mk
Police raids in and around North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, on Thursday resulted in the bust of an international crime group involved in cocaine smuggling from North America and suspected of the murders of at least three people.
On Thursday night, outgoing Police Minister Oliver Spasovski said police had arrested six suspects in the raids while one other person had been already arrested in Spain.
Spasovski said that they are filing criminal charges against 16 people in total, adding that those not detained yet are believed to be outside the country.
“This is one of the most significant investigations. With it we are moving towards a complete bust of the criminal groups that have been operating on the territory of Skopje for more than 30 years,” he said.
Speaking about the suspects believed to be outside North Macedonia, Spasopvski said international arrest warrants will be issued for them, as “we know where they are and we are in close cooperation with Europol”.
Turf wars and mafia-style murders
The police said it searched some 20 locations in the village of Grcec near Skopje, as well as in the Skopje municipality of Cair during which it arrested the six suspects and seized cash, luxury cars and other items.
A BIRN investigation, published in September 2023, revealed how a string of recent mafia-style killings had put the spotlight on the lesser-known criminal underworld in North Macedonia.
Sources told BIRN about what they believed to be a restructuring of the criminal underground in Skopje and about turf wars between different drug-smuggling gangs from the capital, mentioning Grcec and Cair, which is where the police carried out the raids, as known hotspots where these gangs reside and operate.
The main suspect in forming and leading the group that smuggled cocaine and committed murders has the initials SH. M. is aged 46, is from Grcec, and is now in custody.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yabGAbpZ64k?si=t-YHHd1KIGegkiYk
North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry released a video footage of the police busts.
Minister Spasovki said that from the available evidence, the group based in North Macedonia had an international dimension and links.
It transported 435 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil to the Belgian port of Antwerp as well as 106 kilograms of cocaine from Peru to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The group also smuggled drugs from Belgium and Albania to North Macedonia.
Spasovski said the gang carried out murders and is suspected of the attempted murder of a person from the village of Bardovci near Skopje, as well as of the murder of an Albanian citizen found dead in the village of Matka near the capital in May 2020.
The gang is also suspected of the double murder of March 5, 2021, when two persons with the initials A.B. and B.V. were killed in Skopje.
The minister also noted that the gang was using the notorious Sky ECC secure messaging app, once favoured by underworld drug barons, before it was shut down in 2021.
Collaborators inside ‘many institutions’ await exposure
Spasovski added that the investigation will likely widen to encompass other crimes committed by the group and to bust their collaborators, including those inside North Macedonia’s own institutions, saying the public will be surprised when it hears their names.
“There are [people] involved from many institutions, including from the Interior Ministry, other agencies and ministries, in courts, prosecutor’s offices and so on. There are lots of [people] involved, so that’s why I said that you will be surprised in the period to come,” Spasovski told journalists.
“We must reveal those who at some points were shouting – ‘Catch the thief!’ – and were, in fact, the aforementioned,” he said.
This was likely one of the minister’s last press conferences. Spasovski’s Social Democrat-led government resigned on Thursday, waiting for the election by Sunday of a new, technical government tasked to prepare the country for parliamentary and presidential elections slated for late April and early May.
As part of a deal reached between ruling and opposition parties, Spasovski’s post in the technical government, which will govern for 100 days, will go to the opposition.
Asked whether this could jeopardize the current investigation, he said: “Nobody alive can stop this process.”
https://balkaninsight.com/2024/01/26/north-macedonia-busts-cocaine-smuggling-gang-linked-to-murders/
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Posted on Januar 26, 2024 von balkansurfer
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