The Ministry of Interior has identified the owner of the “Zastava” vehicle which had anti-terrorism units mobilized yesterday from the MOI after the US Embassy in Skopje reported a suspicious vehicle, which was parked outside the embassy, and was believed to have explosives .
“The owner has been identified, however we can not disclose any further details as it is a matter of personal data” said the Interior Ministry to “Meta”.
This morning, the MOI confirmed that their teams did not find any traces of explosives in the vehicle, which they initially suspected, and after checking it was taken for further investigation.
The US Embassy confirmed the incident this morning.
“In an isolated incident, the Embassy can confirm there was a vehicle of concern on the street in front of the Embassy yesterday evening. We requested support from the MOI, and MOI Units responded appropriately. The vehicle was removed without incident. We refer you to MOI for anything further on the ongoing investigation. This has nothing to do with the problems we’ve been having with our phone lines”, said a statement from the US Embassy in Skopje.
Yesterday, approximately at 18:00pm, the US Embassy reported to the Ministry of Interior a suspicious vehicle, a “Zastava” pickup left in front of the embassy.
The security personnel from the embassy checked the vehicle with special equipment and found that that the car tested positive for traces of explosives.
Members of the anti-terrorism unit from the MOI immediately went into the field and thoroughly checked the vehicle, but no explosives were found.
The incident took place five days before the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for December 11, and less than two and a half months after an unannounced exercise by members of the “Alfa” police unit, on September 15, set off the US Embassy’s security system.
