Prishtina, 9th of August 2023

Kosovo Police, in order to increase the security measures, respectively the maintaining of public order, has continuously undertaken activities, drafted and implemented operational plans, conducted campaigns with the aim of providing security in general as well as detecting and confiscating weapons without permission in particular.Here we are sharing an overview of the number of vehicles circulating in our country, the number of cars that the police have searched and confiscated weapons. The following statistics:

Based on the data of the relevant institutions, 435 thousand vehicles are registered in our country, 86 thousand in Pristina alone. This year (January 1-August 8), more than 204,000 vehicles entered our country (they were equipped with insurance policies).

The police, only during the implementation of the Operational Order (UO) ‘Summer Season 2022’, have stopped and searched over 329 thousand vehicles, while during the implementation of the Operational Order ‘Winter Season 2022-2023’, they have stopped and searched over 160 thousand vehicles. The number of weapons confiscated during 2022 is 1473 weapons, while in the period January-July 2023, 636 weapons were confiscated, these weapons were not only found in cars, but it is the total number of weapons confiscated.

Last night, on 08.08.2023, during the implementation of the OO ‘Goditja’,  2049 vehicles were checked (420 in the Prishtina region), 6 weapons were found confiscated in these vehicles (3 in the Prishtina region).Referring to the data of the stopped and searched vehicles by the police, only during the implementation of the operational order “Summer and winter season” and during the implementation of the activities last night, the percentage of weapons found, compared to the cars searched, is one weapon in several hundred searched vehicles.

With these data, it is not meant to justify the possession of weapons without a permit, it is not meant to minimize this phenomenon and relativize it, but to provide some data that might be used to provide a more realistic overview of the phenomenon of the possession of weapons without a permit. The fight against this phenomenon requires joint activity of the relevant institutions in the country. The police will continue the activities by drafting and implementing operational plans, undertaking awareness raising campaigns. In order to have greater successes in all these activities, the police invites all citizens for cooperation in this direction