Prosecutor: at least five marijuana transports to North Macedonia confirmed
Prosecutor says plea statements confirmed at least five transports but the total quantity and any border-collusion remain under investigation.
Prosecutor Verica Berzecka Krsteva told reporters at a briefing that the investigation into marijuana trafficking linked to shipments between North Macedonia and Serbia has confirmed there were at least 5 separate transports of marijuana to North Macedonia.
Evidence, gaps and ongoing checks
Berzecka Krsteva said testimony from defendants who reached plea agreements corroborated the existence of those five transports, but investigators cannot yet determine the total quantity that was moved into Serbia. "There were at least 5 transports of marijuana to Macedonia," she stated when summarising the confirmed facts.
So far, among the four Macedonian suspects two have been convicted, and investigators have not established links between them and members of the Macedonian police or customs. Prosecutors will now run additional analyses of phone subscriber lists for seven newly accused people to establish whether they had contacts with Macedonian border services.
Authorities noted that no connection to customs officers or border police has been found to date because, during the five transports to Serbia, investigators did not observe repeated shift patterns of the same officers at the Tabanovce crossing that would suggest collusion.
Berzecka Krsteva also explained why prosecutors did not order seizure of assets from the two defendants who confessed: the money they received — described as plastic bags containing €10,000 each — was carried and handed over in Macedonia, and it was not possible to directly determine how much the two personally profited from the smuggling.
The case was opened in January after some 5 tonnes of marijuana were discovered in the Serbian locality of Konjuh. In plea agreements lodged on 10 August the prosecution cited a quantity of about 8 tonnes, while not specifying whether the entire amount consisted of cannabis. To date, 13 people are suspected in North Macedonia and two suspects remain abroad; the investigation remains active.
Photo: press material from the event
