The plea agreements of two people convicted in the investigation into marijuana smuggling from North Macedonia to Serbia state that eight tons of the drug were transported in five transport trips, Telma Television reported.
According to the agreements and the guilty pleas of the two, published by the Criminal Court in Skopje, the shipment involved a quantity of more than eight tons, but it was not specified whether the total amount of smuggled cannabis was produced only in Macedonian factories.
"The first and second transports were last August, with over 2,2 tons of the quantity missing between the measurements in the smuggling truck. In September and November, there was a difference in the weight of the truck of 527 and 280 kilograms. The last transport was on January 13 of this year, and the prosecution in the agreement states over five tons of marijuana. In total, this is a quantity of eight tons and 40 kilograms," it is specified.
The plea agreement between the two convicts explains how the smuggling took place and that the vehicles used were cars and trucks that were purchased or borrowed before the last transport in January.
"DS asked people by phone to bring him a vehicle with a green card, and shortly after that, persons AR and SR arrived with a motor vehicle B-e-m-v (BMV) with registration numbers...., D. entered a truck loaded with narcotics with suspect AI and entered the Republic of Serbia at 23.57, and the other suspects continued to move in the Republic of Serbia in the B-e-m-v, supervising and securing the transport of narcotics - it is stated in the plea agreement of DS and A. I," the agreement reads.
Behind these initials, as Telma states, "are people who have pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement: Dragan Stojanov from Kočani, who supervised all transports, whether in trucks or in cleaning cars, while Aleksandar Ivanovski was the driver of five smuggling transports."
The agreement, it adds, "states that drug mules from Macedonia have on several occasions charged 10.000 euros for each participation."
Upon pleading guilty, they were sentenced to prison terms of three and a half years and three years and eight months and to pay court costs, but their criminal proceeds were not confiscated. Both were transferred from the detention cells of the prison in the Skopje settlement of Šuto Orizari to the prison serving sentences in the same prison in Skopje.
"Although there were five transports that instead of cakes and pillows transported marijuana produced in medical cannabis factories in Macedonia, there is no information on whether any investigation is underway against the service members and whether there were any shortcomings in the work of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Customs," the Telma Television report states.
The agreement, he adds, also mentions two notaries who certified the sale of the truck used in the smuggling in January. It was resold twice to prevent traces, the first time, as specified, through notary Panovska from Kočani the day after Christmas, and then in Skopje with notary and former lawyer Naser Ziberi, who certified the sale on January 10, a Saturday when data cannot be entered into notary books.
The vehicle from the notarial contracts was used, it is added, to transport marijuana from Skopje to Sveti Nikola, where the drugs replaced Prilep pillows on the way to Serbia.
A total of 13 suspects have been arrested so far in an investigation by the North Macedonian Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime into the smuggling of several tons of marijuana from Macedonia to Serbia, but the investigation continues.
One of the suspects is on the run, one is in custody in Kosovo, two are in prison with plea agreements, and the remaining nine are either in custody or in the hands of investigative authorities.
On the run is Serb Predrag Brković, one of the owners of the Skopje-based medical cannabis company Alfafarm Group and the only foreign citizen in the group of suspects.
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