The Minister of Internal Affairs, Panche Toshkovski, reacts to the accusations from SDSM “100 days of Mickoski’s government and 300 scandals, most of them related to the work of the Ministry of the Interior and Minister Toshkovski”. He says he is disappointed by SDSM’s necrophilic attempts to manipulate the people by accusing the Ministry of Interior of its alleged incompetence in these 100 days.

I believe they are just a desperate attempt to divert attention from the seven years of chaos and destruction of the security system they left behind. The claim that during my leadership of the Ministry of the Interior, only one case was cleared is completely false and manipulative, with the aim of misinforming the citizens. According to the official figures of the Ministry of the Interior, in 2023 there were 23 murders, of which 2 were unsolved, while in 2024, until the month of October, there were 16 murders, of which also only 2 were unsolved. These data show that the situation has not only not worsened, but has also improved in terms of reducing the number of murders.

But we all know what kind of chaos has been going on for the past 7 years where scandals have been lined up one after the other. Their governing structures have allowed criminals to rule the streets, shoot up malls, terrorize citizens and turn the police into enforcers of their interests. The shootings in “East Gate”, where criminals shot in broad daylight, the mafia murders in “Shisha Bar” and Butel, the double murders in Topansko Pole, the escape of prisoners – all this did not happen in these 100 days. These events, the perpetrators of which are still unknown, are the result of years of destruction of the system, which they turned into a mechanism that allowed criminal structures to operate freely. During their government, which now dares to talk about incompetence, passports were distributed to international criminals – 215 drug lords and people with international warrants received Macedonian documents and moved freely around Europe.

Citizens know very well who allowed bandits to be reckoned with on the streets of Skopje and who was behind the biggest scandals involving the theft of weapons from police depots and organized attacks on police officers in stations. Instead of dealing with organized crime, they cooperated with it, leaving institutions powerless to protect citizens.

Let’s not forget that it was during their time that corruption cases like “Racket” took place, where the highest state officials were involved in extortion and abuse of power.

The shootings and killings we see today are a legacy of their rule, which allowed the police to be controlled by criminals while the people were left unprotected.

We have announced an uncompromising fight against these criminal structures, we have begun to restore the system and restore control over security and justice, but what has been systematically destroyed for 7 years cannot be solved immediately. We have introduced reinforced measures and action controls, but a complete victory over crime requires strategic and long-term action. This is a process that will not happen overnight, but we are determined to restore security, justice and order in the country, unlike them, who allowed criminals to control every aspect of our society – says Toshkovski.