EULEX Press Releases

EULEX Press Releases

Eleven years of imprisonment for drug trafficking

29 November 2013

29 November 2013

Today, a mixed panel of international and local judges at the Basic court in Pristina sentenced Y.J. to an aggregate term of eleven (11) years of imprisonment and a fine of 25,000 euros for Unauthorised purchase, possession, distribution and sale of dangerous narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in violation of Article 229 CPCK and Organised Crime in violation of Article 274 CPCK.

The panel of judges found that the defendant, between May 2010 and January 2011, had been responsible for coordinating the trafficking of numerous shipments of heroin overland between Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Germany. When arrested in Pristina in October 2012, a quantity of heroin was recovered from a premises he had control of.

Likewise, he was found to be the coordinator of an organised criminal group that included ten named other perpetrators, the majority of whom were based in Germany whilst carrying out their criminal activities. They have already been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment in Munich.

The investigation was the result of an operation involving investigators working in close cooperation from the Federal Republic of Germany, EULEX investigators and the Kosovo Police. Much of the evidence consisted of telephone interceptions, surveillance and drugs seizures in Munich and was part of a wider operation targeting narcotics traffickers. The operation demonstrates the excellent international legal cooperation between the law enforcements agencies and prosecutors of the Federal Republic of Germany and of Kosovo.

The case was prosecuted by the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office (SPRK) and is part of a series of cases being investigated by international and local SPRK prosecutors working in a mixed team.

Today, a mixed panel of international and local judges at the Basic court in Pristina sentenced Y.J. to an aggregate term of eleven (11) years of imprisonment and a fine of 25,000 euros for Unauthorised purchase, possession, distribution and sale of dangerous narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in violation of Article 229 CPCK and Organised Crime in violation of Article 274 CPCK.

The panel of judges found that the defendant, between May 2010 and January 2011, had been responsible for coordinating the trafficking of numerous shipments of heroin overland between Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Germany. When arrested in Pristina in October 2012, a quantity of heroin was recovered from a premises he had control of.

Likewise, he was found to be the coordinator of an organised criminal group that included ten named other perpetrators, the majority of whom were based in Germany whilst carrying out their criminal activities. They have already been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment in Munich.

The investigation was the result of an operation involving investigators working in close cooperation from the Federal Republic of Germany, EULEX investigators and the Kosovo Police. Much of the evidence consisted of telephone interceptions, surveillance and drugs seizures in Munich and was part of a wider operation targeting narcotics traffickers. The operation demonstrates the excellent international legal cooperation between the law enforcements agencies and prosecutors of the Federal Republic of Germany and of Kosovo.

The case was prosecuted by the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office (SPRK) and is part of a series of cases being investigated by international and local SPRK prosecutors working in a mixed team.