The Basic Court in Pristina has ordered a one-month detention order against five people who were arrested on June 9, during an operation by local and international authorities.
The court announced that the measure was imposed on D.SH., RR, BD, BI and IB, arguing that there is a real risk that if they are released "they may escape with the aim of hiding and escaping criminal responsibility and obstructing the normal course of criminal proceedings."
"The court also considers that if the defendants are released, there is a risk that they will obstruct the course of the criminal proceedings, by destroying, concealing, altering or falsifying evidence of criminal offenses or by influencing witnesses," the announcement said.
The operation against the suspected Kosovo drug trafficking network was carried out on Tuesday morning by the Kosovo Police, in cooperation with the Special Prosecution Office, after a three-year investigation supported by Europol and the authorities of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Named "White Star", the operation had as its main evidence the data provided by the Sky ECC platform, the communications in which were decrypted by European authorities in 2021.
The group is suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering.
According to the Special Prosecution's file, which Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has seen, the suspects have participated since the beginning of 2019 in the activities of an organized criminal group that dealt with the "unauthorized purchase, possession, distribution and sale of narcotics."
The file also states that the group is suspected of trafficking cocaine from South American countries; heroin from Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey; and marijuana from Albania, North Macedonia and Spain.
According to investigations, the drugs were transported through shipping companies to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, and other European Union countries.
Regarding suspicions of money laundering, the Prosecution's file states that it is suspected that "the profits obtained from criminal activity were transferred to various businesses, founded by the suspects themselves or persons close to them."
Part of the assets, according to the Prosecution's document, were converted into movable and immovable property, including land, houses, apartments and cars.
Europol, meanwhile, said that the criminal group operated from Kosovo, while its members coordinated international drug trafficking and managed the laundering of illegal profits in several European countries.
The announcement by this EU agency stated that since the beginning of the investigations (related to the Sky ECC platform), 42 people have been investigated, 76 checks have been carried out and assets with a total estimated value of around 80 million euros have been seized.
According to the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office, the activity of the persons arrested on Tuesday is linked to a case previously investigated during 2025, in the operation called "Broken Sky".REL
