A drug dealer detained over narcotics climbed out of a police station window, and only afterwards did the Interior Ministry issue an international arrest warrant for him. A story that sounds like a bad comedy, but is entirely real - and it raises serious questions about how the security system actually works.

According to the Interior Ministry, on 9 July around 23:55, at the entrance to the Vinica-area village of Istibanja, police officers detained two men from Kočani - J.J. (25) and Aleksandar Lazarov (41). During a search of the „Subaru" they were in, police found and seized a white powdery substance. A day later, on 10 July at 20:35, while being held at the Police Station in Kočani, Lazarov - known as „Cuna" - opened the window of the room and simply escaped.

Only after he had escaped, on 14 July, did the Interior Ministry issue an international arrest warrant for him, at the request of the Basic Court in Kočani. It's exactly that sequence - the escape first, the warrant only afterwards - that is causing the storm. Lazarov, incidentally, is also linked to the tragedy at the „Puls" nightclub.

The opposition SDSM reacted sharply, demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Panče Toškovski and calling this not an ordinary oversight but a „serious security scandal." So far the authorities have offered no detailed answer to the question of how it is even possible for a detained person to escape through a police station window. And that is the key question, no matter who asks it: if a detained man can just open a window and step out, what does that mean for every other person in custody - and how big is the difference between a police station and an open door? Someone has to take responsibility. The only question is whether anyone will.