The large police raid that was conducted yesterday in the village of Grcec near Skopje, notorious as base of drug trafficking, did not lead to the arrest of the leader of the group. Shevalj Muaremi was not arrested in the raid, and is reportedly hiding in Dubai.

Outgoing Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski organized the raid on his last day in office, and announced that the group was involved in the double murder of two rival drug dealers in March 2021 in Skopje, the murder of an Albanian citizen in 2020 (whose body was left to rot in the Matka canyon), the murder attempt of a rival in Bardovci near Skopje in 2019 and likely with the mafia style shooting at the Alexandar Palace hotel. These are some of the growing list of spectacular mafia attacks that were carried out in Skopje in the past years.

During the press conference, Spasovski said that the public will be amazed when it hears the names of the people who were involved in the activities of this group, hinting at Government or administration officials who were supporting the gang. A previous attempt to raid Grcec in 2021 failed after it became clear that police officers are actively informing the group about the coming raid. The police entered the village only after the main culprits have fled – similarly to what happened yesterday where Shevalj Muaremi was not found. Days before the raid, journalists reported on social media accounts that there is chaos in the police, as ethnic Albanian officers are refusing to participate in a major planned raid – a clear indication that the group was again notified of the operation.

Speaking of having supporters in high places, Shevalj Muaremi is well known for a number of pictures he took with top Government officials, including President Stevo Pendarovski and incoming Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi.

One of the nine persons who were arrested is a local level official of the Alliance of Albanians party, which quickly renounced him. The man was previously part of the ruling DUI party. All of the arrested are ethnic Albanians except for Oliver Petrov, who became sort of a playboy figure owing to the wealth and the access to drugs he could offer to the Skopje jet set.

The gang is suspected of smuggling cocaine from Latin America to Europe, using the Balkans as a safe harbour. Their exploits included transporting 435 kilograms of cocaine to Belgium, 106 kilograms of cocaine to the Netherlands and transport of smaller quantities of cocaine from Belgium to Macedonia.