Record raids on licensed growers
Police in North Macedonia seized more than 40 tons of cannabis in a nationwide operation against companies licensed to grow cannabis for medical use.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Interior Ministry spokesman Goce Andreevski said the operation began on 5 February 2026 and was continuing.[1][7][8] In a factory raid near Skopje officers took nine tons of marijuana and 1,300 bottles of cannabis oil.[1][4][6][9] Another 31 tons of marijuana and biomass for oil production were seized in the east of the country.[1][4][6][10][7] Investigation sources put the split at about ten tons around Skopje and 30 tons in facilities in the Strumica region.[2][3][11]
The searches were carried out by the police with the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office over suspected irregularities at the licensed companies.[2][3][6] Investigators suspect licensed producers diverted large quantities to the black market instead of legal pharmaceutical channels.[1][4][5][12][7] Andreevski said the raided Skopje firm showed large gaps between the cannabis it recorded as held, produced, bought and sold.[1][4][6] The firms and the people involved were not officially named.[1]
Reactions
The record seizures set off accusations between the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party and the opposition Social Democrats over who enabled the illicit trade.[1][3]
The Skopje search targeted the ALAFARM GROUP factory.[3][11] Telma reported that the total had grown from an initial 27 tons as new quantities ready for trafficking were found.[3][11]
One of the suspects detained in Serbia less than two weeks before the 9 February 2026 report was linked to the Skopje company’s ownership.[4][6] Customs officials and the Health Ministry’s supervisory commission joined police and organised-crime prosecutors in the joint investigation team.[4][6] Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski called the uncovered irregularities catastrophic and said authorities were continuing the investigation.[4][8] Prime Minister Mickoski said the Serbia seizure was part of the same network and that the drugs seized in Serbia probably originated from North Macedonia.[4][8]
N1 reported a 21-ton marijuana seizure from CBD Medplant in Borisovo, Novo Selo.[10]
The Skopje seizure took place at the former OHIS industrial complex.[12] Vreme reported that a dozen vans, five trucks and police and customs vehicles entered the former OHIS factory late on Thursday afternoon.[7] The trading company Alfafarm DOO Skopje, registered in 2023 for growing and processing herbs and medicinal plants for pharmaceutical purposes, is at the centre of the investigation.[7] According to the Central Register, the company has share capital of about 529,000 euros and several co-owners, all from Kruševac.[7] The change in Alfafarm’s ownership structure came immediately before the five-tonne seizure in Serbia, when DS with a Vienna address left the co-ownership.[7] Macedonian institutions released no official details, explaining that the operation was still ongoing.[7]
The opposition SDSM asked how 5 tonnes of drugs crossed North Macedonia’s border and who in the government, Interior Ministry and customs was involved.[8] The SDSM described the police operation as “a media campaign with cannabis confiscations” and warned the State may have to pay compensation if legal quantities were confiscated.[8] According to information from the government, out of 61 licences issued for the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes, 43 licensed companies are actually operating in the country.[8] The Democratic Union, a coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE, asked Parliament to adopt amendments banning the production of marijuana for medical purposes through an expedited procedure.[8] The Left leader Dimitar Apasiev wrote on Facebook that the production of medical cannabis should not be banned but nationalized.[8] The smaller party Edinstvena Macedonia said licences granted to private companies for supposedly medical purposes were a cover for a business worth millions of euro and called for the State to be the only entity in the legal trade.[8]