EULEX Officers Caught 'Smuggling' Out of Kosovo

Macedonian customs officers at the Blace border crossing with Kosovo stopped a bus with Romanian number plates, driven by a Romanian driver and carrying 16 Romanian staff from the EU rule of law mission, on Tuesday night.

They found 314 cartons of cigarettes stashed in the boot and in the passenger’s travel bags.

Some 133 litres of alcoholic drinks, including Whisky, Cognac, Tequila and Vodka, were also found.

EULEX’s mission includes mentoring, monitoring and advising Kosovo’s customs staff. The mission has now launched an internal invesigation into the issue.

The authorities determined that 178 cartons of cigarettes were the property of the bus driver while the rest of the cigarettes and the alcohol belonged to the passengers.

The goods have been temporarily seized and the driver and passengers fined.

The Romanian Gendarmes were returning home to Romania from Kosovo when they were stopped.

“This has been part of customs regular activities. They have all paid their individual fines and were free to go,” Ljupka Mindoseva from the customs office told Balkan Insight.

EULEX spokesman Karin Limdal said the Head of Mission, Yves de Kermabon, had been informed.

“The full facts relating to this incident are still being established. I do not want to pre-judge any inquiry,” said the Deputy Head of the EULEX Police Component, Lambert Lucas.

“But EULEX takes very seriously any allegations that members of its staff may have acted either illegally or contrary to the strict internal disciplinary code of the mission. If individuals are found to have acted wrongly, action will be taken, without hesitation,” he added.