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Macedonian Ministry of Defense informed that in the last ten days two Albanians have been killed in their attempt to cross to Macedonia illegally.
"We are concerned because in the last ten days we have spotted a series of incidents on the borders between Macedonia and Albania and between Macedonia and Kosovo," Defense Ministry's spokesman Georgi Trendafilov told MIC on Tuesday.
"On the other side of the border there is not any control. Our Army is the only that patrols and controls the borders towards Albania and Kosovo," Trendafilov said.
On Saturday night, in the region of the border point Mali Vlaj towards the border with Albania, three persons tried to enter Macedonia illegally. They did not pay any attention to the border patrol's warning, after which fire was opened from infantry arms, the Ministry of defense informed on Monday. In the fire, one of the persons was killed, while the other two withdrew to the territory of Albania.
The joint Macedonian-Albanian official commissions concluded that these persons were trying to cross to Macedonia illegally. The Albanian authorities took the body of the murdered.
On the same day, a group of persons crossing the border illegally, five of whom from Kosovo and one from Albania, near the border point of Sopot, were prevented from entering Macedonia, again with shooting.
On the same day, a larger group of 20 persons trying to cross illegally, with an entire contingent of 10 horses carrying arms, was stopped from entering Macedonia.
"We are worried because we capture large quantities of arms and logistic military equipment. We are still analyzing whether this is just an ordinary arms smuggling or organized actions of another nature," says Trendafilov. In his interview for MIC Trendafilov recalled to the serious event that happened ten days ago near the border spot Tanusevci on the frontier with Kosovo, when the forest police patrol captured engine driven saws from two Kosovo Albanians who were illegally cutting woods in Macedonia.
"These two Kosovo Albanians came back later on accompanied by five other men and opened fire on the border and forest police patrols with the aim of retrieving their tools. In the shooting an Albanian was killed," said Trendafilov.
In the last few months, the Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Macedonia warned the Albanian Government about the border incidents. They were promised that Albania would make its control on the border stricter.