On September 15, just hours after the SPO submitted their first two indictments, an alarm went off at the US Embassy, and repeatedly on the public address system played, “This is not a drill”.
The reason for the sirens was due to the presence of two dozen members of the “Alfa” police unit near the embassy, which activated the US security protocol and instructed employees to move away from the windows and to find shelter, reports “Prizma“.
The whole drama unfolded around 16:00 pm, and lasted for about twenty minutes, because, as it turns out, the special police unit “Alfa”, unannounced, carried out an exercise, where the officers simulated the reaction in case of a terrorist attack on the US Embassy, without notifying the US Embassy in advance.
The exercise of the police unit for first response and interventions, the “Alfa” unit, was carried out at the behest of Chief Ivica Ancevski-Puki. He asked all teams in Skopje, to gear up head to toe, and to head outside the embassy to assess how much time would be needed for a response in case of a terrorist attack.
However, the US Embassy had not been informed of such an exercise, which is standard procedure in these situations.
The next day, a meeting was called between representatives from the police and the US Embassy, where Macedonian security forces recognized their mistake. Puki, the captain of the “Alphas”, earned him Self a warning for his ‘mistake’ from Ivica Vuchevski, the Head of SVR Skopje and his immediate supervisor.
