The Public Prosecutor's Office in Struga has submitted a criminal complaint against H.M. (50) and N.K. (54), both from the village of Veleshta in Struga, as well as against a legal entity from the same village, due to reasonable grounds for suspicion of committing criminal offenses such as "usurpation of real estate," "illegal exploitation of mineral resources," "causing danger during construction works," and "polluting drinking water." The accused carried out illegal mining and exploitation of mineral resources on several cadastral parcels owned personally and by others, as well as on several parcels of state-owned land, without a valid concession agreement.
The illegal excavations were conducted in close proximity to the water sources in the village of Shum, from which the city of Struga obtains its drinking water, thereby contributing to direct pollution and turbidity of the drinking water at over 30 times the permissible limit.
In this way, they caused a prolonged disruption in the water supply and a ban on the use of drinking water for personal hygiene and hand hygiene.