English
The Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime, in cooperation with the National Security Agency, the Department for Special Police Operations, and the Skopje Sector for Internal Affairs—working under the direction of a public prosecutor —conducted a coordinated police operation yesterday. The operation dismantled an organized criminal group from Skopje involved in terrorism-related offenses and illicit arms trafficking, the Ministry of Interior announced today.
According to the Ministry, acting on search warrants for homes and other premises issued by a pre-trial judge, searches were conducted involving six individuals at a total of 12 locations within the Skopje area, resulting in the arrest of five people. During the searches, authorities discovered and seized automatic rifles, magazines for automatic rifles, a sniper rifle, a sniper rifle magazine, pistols, ammunition of various calibers, a tactical vest, two-way radios, an official flag of the terrorist organization ISIS, a large quantity of electronic devices and mobile phones, as well as a significant amount of cash in both denars and foreign currency.
In 2023, one of the suspects identified as K.I. (34) began operating within a criminal organization—a branch grounded in the ideology of the terrorist organization ISIS—with the aim of committing crimes within Macedonia. As a member of ISIS, he indoctrinated young people to advance the organization’s objectives, disseminated propaganda material containing extreme and radical content, and procured and handled firearms. B.A. (24) and E.S. (30), together with K.I., formed a group involved in the unauthorized possession, brokering, and trafficking of firearms and ammunition, the Ministry of Interior announced.