A hand grenade, 253 bullets and two pistols found on a 33-year-old from Skopje, while Strumica only now files charges over marijuana from December

The police bulletins from 1 and 2 November read like a shopping list: marijuana in Gostivar, Skopje, Delčevo, Radoviš, Kumanovo, Veles and Strumica, a white powder in two places, a digital scale. And among all those items - one that isn't marijuana: an "M75" hand grenade.

It was found on a 33-year-old from Skopje, against whom the Skopje Interior Affairs Sector filed criminal charges for illegal possession of and trafficking in weapons and explosives, as well as unauthorised production and trafficking of drugs. During the search of his home and other premises, police found 253 bullets of various calibres, a 7.65-millimetre "Crvena Zastava" pistol, a "Beretta" pistol, the hand grenade and marijuana.

The other cases look the same. On 1 November just after midnight in Gostivar, a 48-year-old was detained after a white powder was found on him, and a court-ordered search of his home turned up marijuana and a digital scale. In the afternoon, in Skopje, three men aged 26, 33 and 46 were detained, and police found a white powder and marijuana on them. In Delčevo marijuana was found during a check of a taxi, in Radoviš on one of two detained men, and in Kumanovo on a 22-year-old, in the early hours of 2 November. In Veles, two men aged 45 and 50 were caught in the act of buying and selling.

The Strumica case deserves its own line. The charges against two men from Murtino and Vojislavci were filed now, but the marijuana on the 31-year-old on "Goce Delčev" boulevard was found on 25 December 2025. More than ten months from a street check to criminal charges. If documenting one sale takes that long, how long does an investigation into the bigger channels take?

Let's be clear - each of these charges is work the police had to do, and did. But the bulletin counts detainees, not networks. Where does a hand grenade in a Skopje home come from, and who else is keeping one like it - that's the question the list doesn't answer.