Joint regional operation at Tabanovce border crossing
Kumanovo, 4 April 2023 (MIA) – Police officers from North Macedonia and regional countries joined forces at Tabanovce border crossing to seize money, coins with archeological value, as well as confiscate vehicles and stop attempts to smuggle migrants, the Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday.
Spokesman Toni Angelovski said the Ministry of Interior, alongside with representatives of the police forces of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) Border Security Programme and the IPA 2019 project Countering Serious Crime in the Western Balkans, carried out a joint operation titled "Artifact" at Tabanovce border crossing.
During the bust, a Macedonian citizen was caught with 1,120 coins of archeological value, a Turkish citizen was caught with a large sum of money, three stolen vehicles were confiscated and two cases of attempted migrant smuggling were discovered.
Oliver Janser, head of the IPA project, said it is very important that the operation started at the border.
“We saw how important the operation was and that we could apply what we learned, to stop the smuggling of artifacts and our cultural heritage. This is a good start. I’d like to thank DCAF, which did a fantastic job with organizing this, and we can see how a true partnership in the region works, and especially the host North Macedonia. It was a pleasure to see everyone working together and achieving results,” Janser said.
“Operation Artifact was the first of its kind and a unique opportunity for border police officers and customs to upgrade their knowledge in recognizing and preventing the trade of cultural goods, a phenomenon that not only takes away from the country’s identity, but is also connected to other serious forms of organized crime that affects our safety and way of life – terrorism, money laundering, people and arms trafficking etc.,” Derenčin said.
The MoI pointed out that specialized equipment to detect and suppress illegal activities was used, and the experiences from the joint operation would be useful to the further work of the police officers of these countries. dk/ik/
Photo: MIA and Ministry of Interior
