site.btaSDSM Secretary General Dimitrijevikj: Five-Tonne Marijuana Seizure Raises Border Questions

North Macedonia's opposition party SDSM calls on prosecutors to open an investigation after Serbian police seized five tonnes of marijuana linked to Skopje-based Alphapharm, SDSM Secretary General Aleksandar Sasa Dimitrijevikj said on Monday.

The drugs were found on a property near Krusevac belonging to a representative of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), and one of the detainees, Ivan Dragnic, is one of Alphapharm’s four owners.

“Are five tonnes of drugs enough for prosecutors to finally react? Will there be an investigation into this case, or will the government’s scandals and crimes once again go unheard?” Dimitrijevikj said at a news conference.

SDSM said the key question the government in Skopje must answer immediately is how five tonnes of drugs crossed the border with Serbia.

A crime on this scale cannot occur without support and protection from government structures. This is not an isolated incident but a systemic problem, Dimitrijevikj said.

How is it possible, in a country with cameras and scanners at border crossings, for five tonnes of drugs to pass through, or is the cartel network so well organized that no one can do anything about it, Dimitrijevikj said. He added that the country’s institutions could not stay silent and that accountability was needed.