http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/7350/
Balkan Insight
January 14, 2008
Kosovo Customs Chief Assaulted
-The Customs Service in Kosovo is still under the
authority of the UN Administration in Kosovo, UNMIK,
but it began appointing local officials to leading
posts a year ago.
Its former Deputy Director, Shkelzen Mustafa, was
arrested in mid-2007....
Pristina - The authorities in Kosovo have condemned an
assault on one of the top officials of the
UN-administered entity’s Customs Service.
Ekrem Hajdari, the Deputy Director of Customs, who is
also in charge of dealing with organised crime and
smuggling investigations within the Service, was badly
beaten by two assailants wielding baseball bats on
Saturday evening, although he is not hospitalised.
Kosovo’s new Minister of the Interior, Zenun Pajaziti,
condemned the incident on Sunday, and said that his
ministry “will work closely with all necessary
mechanisms in order to prevent such criminal acts
against any official".
The police are looking for two suspects who at the
moment remain unidentified.
Adriatik Stavileci, the Custom Service’s spokesperson,
has linked the assault to Hajdari’s professional work.
“The assault must be related to Hajdari’s post,
although we’re waiting for the outcome of the police
investigation”, Stavileci told Balkan Insight.
Stavileci explained that Hajdari was in charge of
internal investigations within the service.
“As part of the investigations several Customs
officers were suspended, the other Deputy Director of
the Customs Service was arrested, and internal
inquiries were conducted into the activities of 50
Service officers”, he said.
The Customs Service in Kosovo is still under the
authority of the UN Administration in Kosovo, UNMIK,
but it began appointing local officials to leading
posts a year ago.
Its former Deputy Director, Shkelzen Mustafa, was
arrested in mid-2007, following the disclosure of a
big quantity of smuggled medication which had entered
Kosovo as undeclared goods.
....
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
