Security Ministry denies RS allegations over drug find

The Interior Ministry of Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, said on Wednesday that they found 89,9 grams of cannabis, two grams of heroin and 255 grams of what appears to be cocaine inside a container where 700 kilograms of various types of illicit drugs were destroyed by Security Ministry officers on July 27.  

RS institutions are often at odds with institutions of the country’s central government.  

"Immediately following the revelation, police officers informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Trebinje which ordered all the relevant actions on determining criminal responsibility and documenting criminal activity regarding the abuse of illicit drugs to be taken," the police station in Trebinje said in a statement.  

RS Interior Minister, Dragan Lukac, told local ATV television that police will question members of the State Security Ministry department that is tasked with monitoring the destruction process and that it will be determined whether there were any irregularities.  

The Security Ministry immediately denied any such possibilities in a statement which included a lengthy explanation of what happened to the stack of drugs, which had an estimated worth of about seven million BAM.  

Police in Trebinje "caught themselves in their own attempt to plant a case," the Security Ministry said.  

The Ministry said that the drugs RS authorities mentioned are not even stated in the registry of substances that were to be destroyed in the operation.  

Furthermore, "the RS Interior Ministry made a mistake when stating the date when the drugs were being destroyed," the Ministry said, adding that the operation actually took place on July 26, and that media was informed of it.  

"We can only presume what anyone was doing in the morning hours of July 27 in the TE Gacko complex, and we hope that it will be revealed within an investigation and an independent expertise of the suspicious substances that were allegedly found," it said.