Ivanov: 60 tons of heroine go over Kosovo annually

MOSCOW – Director of the Russian Federal Service for Drug Control Viktor Ivanov stated on Tuesday that Kosovo is the main transit path for drugs from Afghanistan to Europe, adding that 60 tons of heroine worth over EUR 3 billion get transported through Kosovo every year.

Ivanov and Serbian State Secretary in the Interior Ministry Vladimir Bozovic signed in Moscow the Plan on joint activities of the two services for the fight against drug smuggling.

The Serbian Interior Ministry filed the data on the suspect in the drug smuggling for whose arrest a warrant has been issued and called on the Russian service to provide assistance in their location, Ivanov said but he did not reveal the identity of the suspect.

He noted that over the past five years, Kosovo has become a transit path for drugs from Afghanistan destined for the European market and specified that 60 tons of heroine worth over EUR 3 billion gets transported across Kosovo on the annual basis.

The director of the Russian Federal Service for Drug Control said that in the light of the given facts, he can understand the efforts of the Serbian government to protect the Serb community in Kosovo.

State Secretary Vladimir Bozovic said that organised criminal rings in Kosovo are doing all they can to make EUR 1 billion worth of profits through drug smuggling, and stated that the profits are probably used to achieve political ends too.

Bozovic said that the dialogue between the Serbian government and Pristina in Brussels aimed to help ensure safety and fight against drug smuggling but it seems Pristina takes no heed of it.

The plan on joint activities of the two services in the fight against drug smuggling in the next two years signed by Ivanov and Bozovic defined the activities and modes of cooperation, including the exchange of data on suspects in drug smuggling cases, as well as the data on drug channels and ways.