DURING the weekend of January 30 to 31, the national anti-drugs unit broke up a drug gang in Bratislava. The gang is believed to have been operating in several European countries.
The leader of the group is a 40-year-old Macedonian, Arslan N, of Albanian origin. The police operation was given the code name "operation amateur", after Arslan's declaration, "Don't be afraid, we are not amateurs."
Masked police raided and searched four flats in Ružinov (part of Bratislava}. In one they found 697 grammes of 34- to 37-percent concentrated heroin and 33 kilogrammes of caffeine and paracetamol, usually used for diluting drugs. This was the biggest drug raid yet seen in Slovakia. The amount of drugs found in the flat had a street value of Sk10 million (€258,000). During the house search, the police also discovered a cache of weapons.