Last week, the Ministry of Interior arrested two people after reading intelligence reports that the two were involved in preparing terrorist attacks in the country.
Today at a press conference, the Director of the PSB (Public Safety Bureau), Mitko Chavkov informed the public that the operation was part of a regional anti-terrorism operation involving Macedonian, Albanian and Kosovan authorities.
Within the operation, teams from the MOI conducted two raids, one in Skopje and the other in the village of Aracinovo, where they arrested one of the suspects, a 24-year resident of the village. The second suspect, however, was arrested yesterday in Kosovo after Macedonian police in cooperation with partner agencies received information that he was hiding there.
“During the search, we found mobile phones with SIM cards, cameras with memory cards, metal knuckle-dusters, license plates, bullets, computer hardware, a tablet, a USB and different types of documentation”, said Chavkov.
Criminal charges for terrorism have already been filed against the 24-year-old resident of Aracinovo, and the judge of the preliminary ruling procedure sentenced the defendant to 30-days detention.
As for the other individual, who is in Kosovo, international legal assistance will be requested.
While responding to a reporter’s question, Chavkov would not say precisely what the two suspects were planning to attack and would only state that the two in question were linked to Islamic radicalism and fighters from the Islamic State, but thanks to the operation, their intentions were prevented.
On Monday, the Albanian and Kosovan police said after the coordinated anti-terrorist operation, they arrested 11 people, four in Albania and seven in Kosovo.
On Tuesday, the Public Prosecution confirmed to “Meta” that Macedonia had participated in the operation, however, details just emerged today from the Director of the PSB, Mitko Chavkov.
