The Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, says that the north of Kosovo was El Dorado for criminals in the past 20 years. He says that Serbs, Albanians and Bosniaks are also involved in crime, but that they have political support for their illegal activities in Belgrade.
As an example of the connection between crime and politics, he mentions Milan Radoicic, the vice-president of the Serbian List, who is on the US blacklist and who, he says, enjoys the support of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.
"When we analyze the security situation in the north, we understand that it is not just about the latest crisis.
The north of Kosovo, i.e. the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, as an area were like a 'black hole' in the rule of law.
It is an area characterized by an extraordinary level of smuggling of goods, where various criminal acts and impunity have continuously occurred", says Sveçla, in an interview with the Serbian media "N1".
He recalls that in recent months, the Kosovo police have discovered five drug laboratories in the north, as well as bitcoin mining workers who were working in the dark.
"We stopped ten trucks with contraband goods, especially excise goods, and we confronted various criminal groups who were trying to maintain this criminal situation.
There is a clear connection between politics and crime, and when I say crime I mean multinational connections.
So, every time we have arrested the criminal groups, they were made up of Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, both from Kosovo and Serbia", emphasizes Sveçla, Telegrafi reports.
Minister Svečla adds that, however, it is characteristic that the Government of Serbia not only tolerates the mentioned criminal groups, but also supports them and uses them to put additional pressure on the local population.
As an example of the connection between crime and politics, he singles out the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoicic, who is on the US blacklist and who is being pursued by Kosovo justice on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.
"Radoicic is a person who enjoys the public support not only of Serbia, but also of some political representatives of Kosovo, but at the same time he is on the black list of the USA because of his participation in organized crime.
We have a lot of evidence that, among other things, he recently entered Kosovo illegally.
We have statements from officials of the Serbian List who said that Radoicic was at the barricades on July 31 and August 1 and that he was the organizer and defender of these barricades.
This means that we have enough evidence for his criminal activities", says Sveçla.
The point, he says, is that there is a complete lack of cooperation between the authorities in Belgrade and the government in Pristina to bring Radoicic to justice.
"To make things even worse, he (Radoicic) enjoys the direct support of the President of Serbia", says Svecla.
On the question of how Radoicic enters Kosovo, Sveçla says that "We have a long border line with Serbia and individuals, especially those who are connected to these groups that smuggle goods, it is easier for them to cross from Serbia to Kosovo or from Kosovo to Serbia .
We have managed to reduce to a minimum the smuggling of goods by trucks, but the illegal crossing of people, I think, is relatively easy".
He added that people in the north of Kosovo are mostly peaceful and want to live from their work, but that there is a problem.
"We have to understand one thing, that area was like El Dorado for criminals.
We have criminals who have become multimillionaires from the poor or middle class, thanks to the criminal activity that has been tolerated in that area for more than 20 years.
I have received dozens, if not hundreds, of complaints from citizens there who were under pressure from criminal groups.
It is not that the criminal groups only want to get rich, but with their arrogant and thuggish behavior they are an obstacle to normal life there.
Therefore, our imperative is to establish legality there", said the Kosovar minister.
Referring to the ban on entry into Kosovo of the Russian journalist Daria Aslamova, Sveçla said that she was the subject of assessments by the security institutions even before arriving in Kosovo.
"She is known to be part of the Russian intelligence service, a person who has been declared persona non grata in Ukraine, Moldova and Turkey.
Her connections with exponents of Russian politics are known.
Therefore, it was based on a lot of other information, and I think it was a legitimate and correct decision by the institutions of Kosovo, that this person is unacceptable for Kosovo", he said.
He also assessed that nothing Serbia is doing in relation to Kosovo is in contradiction with the Russian authorities, the Russian ambassador and their military attachés.
"Now we have an active propaganda war of Russia regarding Kosovo.
In the night of heightened tensions, between July 31 and August 1, this fake news propaganda campaign came from Moscow, Belgrade and districts such as northern Mitrovica.
Otherwise, the fake news caused confusion and this complicated the situation even more, but it also showed the plans of the Russians or pro-Russian exponents in Belgrade", assessed Sveçla.
/Telegraph/