MACEDONIA: ARMED GROUP REPORTEDLY TERRORIZING
POPULATION IN TETOVO AREA
Vest - September 25, 2003
A 30-strong armed group, which entered from
Kosovo last week, is again terrorizing the population in this area
(unspecified). According to reports from the intelligence services, a part of
this armed gang controls the Tetovo-Jazince highway, while another part commits
armed robberies in a number of Tetovo villages. The armed individuals are
believed to be part of the gang of the notorious Sait Rushiti, who managed to
escape, most probably to Kosovo, even
though he was wounded in an extensive police operation for his arrest in the
village of Rakovec a few months ago. According to the same sources, this group
may be associated with Cakalla's gang in another attempt to threaten the
security in the Lipkovo and the Tetovo areas because of their criminal
interests. The police still have no information if this armed gang, which has
begun to exercise terror in the Tetovo area, is part of the Rushiti-led group,
but according to Public Relations Officer Mirjana Kontevska action is taken to
identify it.
This armed gang, which is believed to be a group of criminals, committed its
latest robbery on the local highway between Kamenjane and Jelovjane village,
near a place called Nad Tumba, at around 1930 (1730 gmt) the day before
yesterday. Six masked individuals armed with automatic rifles intercepted a jeep
with Veles licence plates driven by A.A. (43) from Jelovjane. The armed people
managed to stop the jeep and the passengers inside with the threat that they
would kill them, after which they searched them and robbed them of their money.
A day earlier, four masked individuals wearing black uniforms and armed with
automatic rifles attacked a taxi driver and a resident of Tetovo's Celopek
village on the road between Tetovo and Gajre village. Having introduced
themselves as members of Sait Rushiti's group, the armed persons searched them,
stole their money and mobile phones, and escaped.
Source: Vest, Skopje, in Macedonian 25 Sep 03 p 2