Suspected Drugs Baron’s Detention Extended in Kosovo

The EU rule-of-law mission to Kosovo has extended the detention on remand of the suspected drugs baron Naser Kelmendi.

EULEX said detention on remand has been extended until July 7 for Kelmendi, who was arrested on May 5, 2013 by Kosovo police acting on an international arrest warrant. Fuad Nikqi, suspected of assisting Kelmendi, was also arrested.

A EULEX prosecutor then opened an investigation into the case based on the same offences that Kelmendi has been accused of in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia’s authorities have asked EULEX to extradicte Kelmendi but Kosovo has refused, citing lack of an agreement on extraditions with Bosnia

In Bosnia, Kelmendi is accused of attempted murder and the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics from or in Latin America, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia and other European countries.

A report in 2008 described Kelmendi as head of one of the best organised criminal groups in the region, allegedly smuggling drugs and cigarettes, trafficking in people and laundering money.

According to reports, Kelmendi and his three sons, Elvis, Liridon and Besnik, along with his brother, Becir, ran several businesses in Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, including hotels and a trucking company.

Bosnian courts issued a warrant for Kelmendi’s arrest following a police action, codenamed “Lutka” (“Doll”) in 2012, when raids across Bosnia resulted in the arrest of 25 suspected members of organised crime rings.

The Bosnian prosecutor’s office then said that police were investigating at least six unsolved murders and attempted murders, major bank robberies and other serious crimes.

Although Kelmendi has been indicted numerous times in Bosnia, he has never been prosecuted.

In a June 1, 2012 letter to the US Congress, President Barack Obama named Kelmendi as one of three suspected narcotics traffickers who he declared “appropriate for sanctions under the Kingpin Act [targeting foreign drugs traders]”.