Macedonian Customs Officers Detained Bulgarian Car with 22kg Marijuana.

Customs inspectors from ‘Blaze’ border checkpoint near Kosovo detained a Bulgarian car with 22 kg of marijuana, reported bTV.

The car has been driven by a Bulgarian citizen from the village of Belyakovets, Veliko Tarnovo Municipality.

Right before the check, the Bulgarian has claimed that there was nothing suspicious in his car.

25 packages with cannabis have been found.

The man co-operated with a Kosovo citizen by agreeing to transfer the marijuana for 3000 euros. The Bulgarian citizen will be subjected to a temporary measure of imprisonment – 30 days in prison.

Macedonian Prostitution Kingpin Shot Dead by Unknown Gunman

Dilaver Bojku (C) is escorted by Macedonian police at Skopje’s airport July 6

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonian police say a convicted crime kingpin suspected of forcing hundreds of women from several Balkan countries into prostitution has been shot dead by an unknown assailant.

Dilaver Bojku, 55, was shot in the head at close range late Monday in the southern town of Struga. Police spokesman Stefan Dimoski told the Associated Press Tuesday that the gunman escaped.

Bojku was convicted of organizing prostitution but escaped prison in Struga in 2003. The U.S. government offered a reward for information leading to his arrest, and he was soon detained in Montenegro, from where he had been planning a flight to Brazil.

He was extradited to Macedonia later in 2003 and sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison. After serving the sentence, Bojku returned to Struga where he operated restaurants.

Moscow Denies ‘Groundless, Fabricated’ Claims on Meddling in Macedonia’s Affairs

The accusations that Russia is meddling in Macedonia’s internal affairs are fabricated and groundless, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Last week, Bloomberg reported, citing an interview given by Macedonian Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska, that the country was boosting its efforts to join NATO to protect it from Russia’s alleged interference.

Defence Minister Radmila Shekerinska

“We stress that the accusations that Russia is meddling in Macedonia’s internal affairs are completely fabricated and are only based on Russophobes’ groundless statements, as well as information attacks they carried out,” ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Russia has been repeatedly accused of interfering in Macedonia’s affairs.

The US-supported OCCRP published an article on Sunday, claiming that Macedonia was subjected to “strong subversive propaganda and intelligence activity” implemented through the Russian Embassy in the country.

The OCCRP used what it said was a briefing for director of the Macedonian Administration for Security and Counterintelligence (UBK) and several other documents as the basis for its report. The report contains photos of only parts of the documents, which makes it hard to ascertain their authenticity.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the accusations of Russia’s alleged interference in the internal affairs of Macedonia a provocation.