Arrest of smugglers in Macedonia
Source: The Daily Star , Večernje novosti 16.jun 2013.
On Sunday, June 16th, Macedonian police arrested 15 people, among whom was one member of the Macedonian police, suspected for smuggling and trafficking. They are suspected for smuggling the migrants, who came from Asia and Africa, from Greece over Macedonia and Serbia to Western countries since the beginning of 2013.
In the action "Corridor", Macedonian police has discovered an international criminal group that transferred the migrants from Arabic and Asian countries to Serbia and after that to western European countries, confirmed the Macedonian Interior Minister, Gordana Jankulovska.
According to the information from the Macedonian Ministry of Interior, this group managed to smuggle around 250 migrants over the last seven months. People from the village of Lojane, Bogdanci (residents of the city in the southeast of Macedonia) and from Sudan were identified as the organizers of the criminal group. Police officer L. K. (37) from Skopje was arrested because of providing the information about the traffic control. Besides him, "associates" from Djevdjelija, Novi Dojran, Valandovo and Strumica, were also arrested.
The arrested were part of an international criminal network for smuggling migrants. In agreement with the unidentified person - Arab citizen who resides in the territory of Greece, from mid-December 2012, they managed to smuggle more than 250 migrants originating from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria and other Arabic and African countries through the territory of Macedonia.
Payment per migrant ranged between 120 to 200 euro and it was valid only as a transportation tariff from the border with Greece to the Kumanovo region (in northwestern Macedonia), where they were temporarily based and from where they had to pay additional 300 euros per man for their illegal transfer to the territory of Serbia. Part of the money was chargeable in cash from the migrants and the rest by using the fast money transfer to the name of the organizer of the criminal group from the village of Lojane - said Jankulovska.
They were transported by buses, with the taxi or even in the trucks. Transport was exerted to the villages of Lojane and Vaksince that are populated with Albanians and known as a long-term bases for the reception and transfer to Serbia. For this reason, there was a "connection" of this criminal group in Serbia, which was accepting illegals at the border zone near Lojane, at the village of Miratovac in Serbia. From there, they were illegally transported to Belgrade and farther to Western Europe.
Arrest of smugglers in Serbia
Macedonia and Serbia are located on the so-called Balkan route, which is used for the trafficking to Western Europe. On May 9th, 2013, was performed one of the last actions of arresting the suspects for trafficking on the border of Serbia and Macedonia. That day, in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Vranje, were arrested approximately 20 persons suspected for trafficking and for smuggling of cigarettes. Among those who are detained also are the police officers and customs officers, who, according to information published by the local media, were arrested at the border crossing Cukarka, near Presevo.
Action of arresting was carried out by the members the Criminal Police Directorate from Belgrade, with the participation of the Border Police of Serbia and Macedonia. Beside the regions of Presevo and Vranje, action of arresting the suspects for trafficking and smuggling of cigarettes and other goods from May 9th, 2013, was also conducted in the village of Lojane in Macedonia, located near the border with Serbia, and the municipality of Presevo.
According to earlier writings of the Macedonian media, in the past few years the village Lojane has become a major transit center for illegal migrants who stay there waiting to go to Serbia and after that to the European Union.
According to the informations of the Police Department in Vranje, during the 2012, on the area of that municipality, there were caught more than 6,000 illegal migrants from Afghanistan, the Middle East and North African countries who came from Macedonia.