Police spokeswoman Mirjana Konteska described
a meticulous plan to promote Macedonia as a player in the fight against global terrorism that involved smuggling the Pakistanis into Macedonia from Bulgaria, housing them, and then coldly gunning them down.Just when I think nothing can shock me anymore . . .
The killings, she added, were part of an attempt to "present themselves as participants in the war against terrorism and demonstrate Macedonia's commitment to the war on terror."
Since breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has been eager to win U.S. political and economic support in its search for acceptance into the Western camp of nations.
[snip--2 police generals and a former Interior Minister are among those involved.]
The so-called "Rastanski Lozja" action was carried out in March 2002 by special Macedonian police who claimed to have eliminated a terrorist group allegedly plotting to attack international embassies and representatives in Macedonia.
Konteska said that the seven Pakistani men were in fact illegal immigrants who were lured into Macedonia by promises that they would be transferred to Western Europe.
[snip--more on the investigation into the crime]
At the time, senior police officials said the seven men were killed after a police patrol was ambushed. Police claimed that assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition were found near a van used by the Pakistanis.
Konteska said the plan to set up the Pakistanis and kill them was made by top police officials in February 2002, when the seven men were brought into the country from Bulgaria and housed in Skopje, the capital.
On March 3, they were taken by police to Rastanski Lozja, about three miles (5 kilometers) northeast of Skopje, and gunned down by special police, Konteska said.
"They lost their lives in a staged murder," said Konteska.
After the killings, the U.S. Embassy released a statement that said U.S. personnel were "not aware of any indication that there was a specific threat" to the embassy.
