No date announced for return of customs officials to northern Kosovo

PRISTINA, Kosovo

Officials have again failed to provide a date when customs officials will return to northern points at the border with Serbia. During a meeting Monday (April 20th) with the head of the Customs Administration, Naim Huruglica and police chief Sheremet Ahmeti, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci promised that the government will continue to fight smuggling and corruption throughout Kosovo.

The officials also noted an overall drop in smuggling activities in the north. “There is a decrease of 80% in the past six months,” Thaci said. Serb radicals burned down two customs checkpoints at the border with Serbia days after Kosovo declared its independence in February 2008. A year later, EULEX customs officials managed to establish checkpoints near the border, but they register only goods entering Kosovo territory.