Last night around 22:30, a Peugeot with Strumica plates was stopped by police officers in the village of Murtino, near Strumica. Inside - three young men from the neighbouring village of Bansko, aged 24 to 31. During the search, police say, cocaine and marijuana turned up.

The three were held at the Strumica police station. The next day, on a court order, inspectors also entered the home of one of the detained men in Bansko, where they again found marijuana. The Strumica public prosecutor has been notified, and criminal charges will follow once the case is documented.

The story itself is routine - one more night stop, one more little bag found. But that is exactly why it matters. For years the Strumica area has been named as one of the corridors through which drugs travel north, and the number of these „chance“ finds on local roads is no accident. Every arrest is proof that something is moving across the ground - the question rarely asked is who stands above the street dealers.

Cocaine, let us not forget, is not cheap stock for the pocket of a twenty-something from the provinces. When it ends up in a car on a local road near Murtino, it means somewhere there is a network bringing it in, distributing it and collecting the money. Police caught three men. Whether they will reach the ones who put the goods in their hands - that is the real measure of whether this is a blow to the trade or just one more seizure for the statistics.