The Director of Customs in Kosovo, Agron Llugaliu, has stated that in the last two years there has been a decrease in smuggling in the northern part of the country, while adding that the rule of law in that part is efficiently extended. Llugaliu has also said that the security measure against Serbian goods established a year ago has had the effect of preventing the smuggling of weapons and other equipment from Serbia.

Director Agron Llugaliu in an interview for KosovaPress states that after the implementation of security measures by the government, there is a decrease in imports from Serbia by about 70 percent while adding that there is an increase in imports from Albania by about 25 percent compared to the same period last year.

In addition to the decrease in smuggling, Llugaliu says that other activities have also been carried out that have also involved the rest of the country.

“In general, starting from the last two years, the rule of law has been enforced much more efficiently, much deeper in the northern part, this has normally influenced the smuggling activity to drop as well. Not only in the northern part, but also activities that included the rest of our Republic in Kosovo”, says Llugaliu.

Meanwhile, he says that there is a 70 percent reduction in the total import from Serbia.

Llugaliu says that the important thing in this regard is that the measure was efficient, showing that there was no infiltration or attempt to smuggle weapons and other equipment.

“The government has decided a measure which is based on the security context we have in the course of the events of June last year, which then continued with escalation, even with the attack that happened in Banjska. In general, there have been reports in close sources at the international level that there is a great risk that exponents and armaments that are linked to military elements and that aim to destabilize Kosovo’s security will be avoided in Kosovo. Considering that we have capacities that enable controls based on risk analysis, we are committed to doing the board’s procedure as far as we have control capacities. In this case we control as much as we can in our capacity, and this has resulted in a reduction of about 70 percent of imports in general. However, it is important that the measure was efficient, showing that we did not have infiltration or attempt to smuggle weapons and other equipment”, he says.

Regarding the import with Albania, Llugaliu says that there is an increase of 25 percent in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

“This year we have a significant increase in imports with Albania. From 122 million euros last year, in four months, it is 130 million, which is somewhere close to a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year,” Llugaliu emphasizes.

The security measure to stop Serbian goods was taken on June 14 by the Government of Kosovo, the day when the three Kosovo police officers were kidnapped by Serbian forces inside the territory of Kosovo. Lately, the Government has decided to ease the security measures for raw material goods and semi-finished products./