How are goods smuggled from Serbia, and what is more smuggled?

smugglers are exploiting various mountain paths to illegally insert these goods into Kosovo.

Kosovo Customs spokesman Adriatic Stavileci tells Radio Free Europe that smugglers exploit mainly small vehicles in order to move more easily on mountain roads.

There are secondary routes that various smugglers try to use, but those roads are not the ways they can cross big trucks, but they pass, we can say, vehicles which are much smaller and by which they try to smuggle in order to avoid customs payments and duties”, says Stavileci.

The northern part of Kosovo, which borders Serbia, according to Kosovo Customs, is considered the most affected area by smuggling.

Kosovo Police and Customs during an action against smuggling of goods, held on 13 October in several Kosovo regions, including municipalities in the north, seized goods and other evidence worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

Kosovo Minister of Internal Affairs Jedal Svecla has said Wednesday that Kosovo Police and Customs's action against smuggling of goods is part of the Kosovo authorities' fight against smuggling and tax evasion.

Stavileci, meanwhile, shows that Dogana, in co-operation with the mission of the North-Atlantic Alliance in Kosovo, KFOR, has placed blockades at mountain crossings, which have already been identified as countries used for smuggling goods.

“Dogana, Border Police and with KFOR assistance, we have attempted to close these roads so that they are not circulated”, Stavileci says.

Not only in northern Kosovo, but also other parts of Kosovo's border, there are attempts or attempts to smuggle”, he adds.

Kosovo customs has repeatedly seized smuggled goods in border areas between Kosovo and Serbia, mainly alcoholic and non-alcohol beverages, food goods and various technicians.

Smuggling in the north is stopped

Kosovo Economic Ode Chairman Berat Rukiqi says Kosovo institutions have repeatedly said they are working on preventing smuggling. But according to him, she remains present.

“Smuggling is done in various forms from those most primitive tools, except animals to the rest of the (links) that have been with derivatives or smaller vehicles. It means all of these are used to introduce certain goods, especially excise goods”, Rukiqi says.

Products that have excise products in Kosovo are alcohol, tobacco, energy drinks, oil and other products.

Rukiqi tells Radio Free Europe that any informal economic activity and the failure to prevent smuggling of goods are damaging Kosovo's economy.

The “has consistently been fought (the smuggling of goods), reportedly there has been an apparent decline in the cigarette part (the cigarette) or the lotion of the derivatives, but in some other categories, of course it has continued”, he says.

Despite concerns about smuggling various goods, figures presented by Kosovo Customs speak of an increase in revenues this year. In the January-September period, Dogana has managed to register over one billion euros, or 33 per cent more than in the same period last year.

In contrast, of the more than 200,000 businesses that are registered in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, according to the Kosovo Tax Administration (ATK), only about 35,000 are fiscalised. Based on this data, many businesses continue to flee their tax obligations to the state. Kosovo Tax Administration in Previous Statements The REL has suggested that tax evasion is available on all sides of Kosovo, but it is thought that this activity is mostly extended to four municipalities in northern Kosovo, inhabited by Serb majority.

Local Serbs rejected anti-muggling action

The 13 October Kosovo Police and Customs event, which took place in the Pristina, Pec, South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica region, was met with protests and blockades by citizens in northern Mitrovica and Zvecan.

During clashes between police and protesters, authorities announced that ten police officers were injured, meanwhile, health authorities in northern Mitrovica said ten more citizens sought medical assistance.

Eight people were arrested during the police operation, under suspicion of smuggling goods. Kosovo police reported that they have identified ten other people, allegedly involved in smuggling, and declared them on the run.