Today coordinated police operation codenamed "Kipper" was conducted under the direction of the Attorney General in question, by the National Unit for the Suppression of Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking in cooperation with the Department of Special and Special Operations. The action is the result of a pre-investigation procedure that was carried out from September 2023 to June this year. The procedure covers a seven-member organized criminal group, which acted on the territory of the state with the purpose of committing crimes related to the organization of a group for committing criminal acts of migrant smuggling, the RSM Public Prosecutor's Office announced.

Today, searches were carried out at five locations in the area of ​​Shtip, Zletovo, Probishtip and Veles. Five persons are deprived of liberty. During the searches, the following were found and confiscated: a passenger motor vehicle, powdery substance, scales and mobile telephone devices that the persons used to commit the crime.

Acting on the criminal report filed by the National Unit for the Suppression of Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking, the public prosecutor in question issued an Order for the implementation of an investigative procedure against six Macedonian and one Serbian citizen. There is a well-founded suspicion that the first suspect, as the organizer of the criminal group, is the perpetrator of the crimes "Organizing a group and encouraging the commission of the crimes of human trafficking, child trafficking and smuggling of migrants" under Article 418c and "Smuggling of migrants" under Article 418-b, five of the remaining suspects are charged with being perpetrators of the same crimes as members of the group, while the seventh suspect is charged with helping to commit the crime of "Organizing a group and encouraging the commission of human trafficking" , child trafficking and smuggling of migrants".

According to the provided evidence from the pre-investigation procedure, during 2023 and 2024, the first suspect together with two persons - foreign citizens, namely one identified person of origin from Pakistan and N.N person, a citizen of the Republic of Serbia, united and organized an international criminal group in the Republic of Serbia. S. Macedonia. This group was part of an international criminal network that, for the purpose of acquiring property benefits, committed crimes of smuggling migrants with predetermined tasks. In the time period from September 2023 to June this year, the suspects organized the illegal transfer of groups of migrant citizens from Syria and other countries from the near and far east and countries from Africa - Iraq, Congo and Nigeria through illegal crossings of the so-called "green border".

The first suspect, together with the other two organizers of the criminal group, planned and agreed on the number of migrants who would be transported to the territory of the Republic of Macedonia in an organized and pre-arranged and established way of telephone communication using telephone numbers from Serbian mobile operators and internet communication. , while agreeing on the locations where they will be transported, the time and the place - the exact location where the migrants were ready for acceptance and further transportation to the Kumanovo-Lipkovo region.

"With the help of so-called guides "climbers", the migrants were coordinated and guided to previously determined and agreed locations, from where the "climbers" sent the location to the organizers. The first suspect informed the other members of the group and gave them tasks to secure trucks and make improvised bunkers in them for accepting and transporting the migrants, and he gave the seventh suspect, a member of the group, the task of receiving and withdrawing the money paid for the successful completion smuggling of migrants through the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. After the illegal migrants were transported to the previously agreed locations, the first suspect, in agreement with the organizer N.N person from the Republic of Serbia, organized the further acceptance and smuggling by R.S. Macedonia in the Republic of Serbia", states the announcement of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Today, the five suspects were brought before a judge for preliminary proceedings at the Basic Criminal Court - Skopje, and the prosecutor in question will propose the determination of a measure of detention for them, while one person is already serving a measure of detention in KPU Prison Skopje for the crime of "smuggling migrants". and for the other person who is on the run, the measure of detention in absentia has been determined in another criminal-legal event.

"The prosecutor in question bases the justification of the proposal on the fact that there are circumstances that justify the fear of the danger of escape, if they defend themselves from freedom. Especially, if one takes into account the type and frequency of the commission of these crimes in the territory of the RSM. At the same time, there are special circumstances that indicate that the suspects will hinder the criminal procedure by influencing everyone involved in the commission of the crimes, which should be examined during the investigative procedure, but also by influencing the witnesses, and there are also special circumstances who justify the fear that they will repeat the crimes. All these circumstances point to the fact that in this particular case, the purpose of the detention could not be achieved with any other measure to ensure the presence of the suspects," the Public Prosecutor's Office said.

Stipjanec led a criminal group for smuggling migrants, five people were arrested, seven involved were criminally charged