Seven more suspects named in cross‑border probe of five tonnes of marijuana

Seven more people have been named as suspects in North Macedonia’s portion of the investigation into the smuggling of five tonnes of marijuana that was intercepted in Serbia, the national prosecutor’s office said. The new accusations raise the number of suspects in North Macedonia to 13, while prosecutors in Serbia have filed charges against an additional six people.

How the operation allegedly worked

The Public Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption said the newly suspected persons allegedly teamed up with other, still unidentified collaborators to move marijuana from North Macedonia into Serbia and into a storage site in the Konjuh area near Kruševac. The operation was reportedly run behind a front company, Alfapharm, which held a marijuana licence for premises at OHIS; one of the organisers was the company's manager.

"For that purpose they used cargo trucks and customs declarations that indicated the transport of textile, food and other types of goods. After the narcotic drug was transferred across the state border, they organised its storage in the Konjuh locality near Kruševac, where the marijuana was repackaged and distributed for further sale. On the cargo vehicles with previously customs-cleared and sealed goods, the seal was removed and part of the customs-cleared goods was taken out, and in its place boxes with narcotic drug marijuana were placed with a weight approximately equal to the weight of the removed goods. Then the cargo vehicle was directed to the Tabanovce border crossing, and it was followed by one of the suspects in a passenger motor vehicle," the Public Prosecutor's Office for the Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption said.

Prosecutors said the same method was used in at least five separate transports. Some of the suspects are currently at large. Two individuals from an earlier group of defendants admitted guilt, reached plea agreements and were sentenced to prison terms of three and a half years and three years and eight months, respectively.

According to the authorities, those defendants acknowledged taking part in the transport operation near Sveti Nikole, where they removed Prilep-made pillows from a truck bound for export to England and loaded identical-looking boxes that were instead filled with marijuana. The case was uncovered at the end of January in Serbia; investigations and cross-border legal steps remain ongoing.

Photo: press material from the event