The Prosecutor's Office in Skopje launched an investigation today against a 32-year-old man with dual Turkish and Serbian citizenship and a Macedonian customs official who were caught at the Skopje airport in an attempt to smuggle 43 kilograms of jewelry worth 2,3 million euros.
As stated in the announcement of that prosecution, the foreign citizen is suspected of the heinous crime of "smuggling", and the customs officer is suspected of "assisting in the commission of a criminal offense".
Director of the Customs Administration of North Macedonia, Slavica Kutirov, said yesterday that customs officials at the Skopje airport discovered and seized over 43 kilograms of gold jewelry in the luggage of a person with a Serbian passport, and that this is a record seizure of gold jewelry, the value of which is estimated at around 2,3 million euros.
According to the Skopje prosecutor's office, the 32-year-old suspect, with dual Turkish and Serbian citizenship, on March 20 at the border crossing of the International Airport "Skoplje", at the entrance to the country, through the customs line, brought in undeclared goods, over 43 kilograms of gold jewelry, and was helped by the second suspect, a Macedonian customs officer.
"A foreign citizen arrived on a flight from Istanbul to Skopje, and in the baggage claim area he was met by his helper, an employee of the Customs Administration of the Republic of North Macedonia, who was not on shift at the time and whose sister was traveling on the same plane," it is stated in announcement of the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office "Skoplje".
That customs officer, it is added, took the luggage from the sister and the suspect, put it in a cart, after which all three headed towards the "green corridor" to exit the airport without declaring customs goods.
"The green corridor was closed with a security tape, so the suspect was removed by the customs officer and proceeded to the exit. The customs officer controlling the flight reacted to this, but the suspect introduced himself as a fellow customs officer and continued to move towards the exit together with his sister and the suspected foreign citizen ", the announcement reads.
Then, it is pointed out, customs officers intervened on shift, searched the persons and found 15 kilograms of gold jewelry in the backpack of the passenger from Istanbul, while the rest of the valuable jewelry was found in the suspect's suitcase loaded on a luggage cart.
The public prosecutor submitted to the judge for preliminary proceedings from the Basic Criminal Court "Skoplje" a proposal for the determination of custody measures for the two suspects.
He explained that there are circumstances that indicate the danger of escape, the possibility of hiding, falsifying or destroying traces of a criminal act, obstructing the criminal proceedings with influence on witnesses and conditions for repeating the criminal act.
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