Approximately 40 tons of marijuana were seized in North Macedonia

Wednesday, Feb 25, 2026

Serbia seized 5 tons of marijuana; North Macedonia revoked licenses for cannabis companies following the bust.

πŸ”— Read the article on hvg.hu


[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Authorities launched an investigation after five tons of marijuana were smuggled into Serbia, leading to the seizure of the Macedonian-origin drug at a warehouse belonging to Rade Spasojevic, a politician from the Serbian Progressive Party. The value of the seized drugs is estimated between 7 and 10 million euros. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied his party’s involvement in the marijuana smuggling or any participation by state employees. Following the scandal, North Macedonia’s Ministry of Health revoked licenses for companies involved in therapeutic cannabis cultivation, including Alfafam, which was linked to the smuggled marijuana. Proceedings are ongoing against 43 other companies dealing with medicinal cannabis distribution, storage, or transport due to non-compliance with legal requirements. The health minister announced further tightening of regulations regarding the trade of therapeutic marijuana, noting that while medical cannabis has been legal in North Macedonia since 2016, a proposal to legalize recreational use failed.


πŸ”— Read the original article

Β© 2026 Pulse - Europe beyond the beat


PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, DenΓ­k Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , FΓΈljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

PULSE is driven by a sort of virtual transnational newsroom made up of journalists from all the publications involved. It collaboratively produces new journalistic content on European issues on a daily basis, coming in many different languages. The editorial output amounts to over a thousand publications per year, mostly in article form.

PULSE also runs 4 thematic networks open to any European journalist interested in crucial issues such as EU enlargement, relations between the EU and other global powers, the EU’s green transition, or media and the information society. These networks function as online communities and periodically publish calls for pitches.