Serbian businessman Predrag Koluvija, who is a major cannabis oil producer, was arrested after marijuana meant for illegal sale was found in his farm. Koluvija is also working with Macedonian businessmen, at least one of whom is close with the outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his family marijuana farms.
Koluvija was arrested after trying to get out of a traffic stop by impersonating a police officer. This allegedly lead to a wider search of his farms located in the north of Serbia, which led to the discovery of tons of marijuana which were not of the industrial kind, meant for cannabis oil production.
Koluvija denies the charge and insists that he was only producing industrial cannabis and that the far more addictive drug was planted on his property. Serbian media report that the raid also netted nearly 700 kilos of dried marijuana – a clear indication that he was tapping the far more lucrative street market. Koluvija and eight of his farm workers are now detained.
He is the partial owner of Bul Building from Strumica, a company that has a Macedonian license to grow marijuana. This company is partnered with several Macedonian companies and businessmen, including Goran Krstev, a construction magnate who in turn is partnered with the Zaev family. Krstev is co-owner of the Sara Javor Engineering firm, where his business partner is Vice Zaev, the brother of the outgoing Prime Minister, opposition sources have frequently claimed.
Zaev has not made a secret of his family’s involvement in the marijuana business. In fact, he has promoted the growth of the industry, to his great personal benefit, insisting that it will stop at producing cannabis oil for export. This story smelled fishy, given that major international outlets reported on Zaev and other marijuana businessmen in Macedonia also noted that, while millions are pouring in into the business, no significant exports of cannabis oil have been made yet. This spurred speculation that the true goal of the investments is to tap the European illegal drug market. Zaev is openly pushing for the legalization of the export of dried marijuana flowers, a move he notably made his priority even as he was supposed to focus on the ultimately failed EU accession talks bid, and this is again fueling speculations that under his watch Macedonia will turn into an illegal drug exporter.
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