Skopje, 20 January 2023 (MIA) – The police detained Friday three Ohrid citizens, who are suspected of physically assaulting a 21-year-old fellow citizen in a town restaurant late yesterday.

Ohrid police spokesperson Stefan Dimoski told MIA the three individuals physically assaulted the person inside and then outside the restaurant, resulting in severe injuries and treatment in the Ohrid general hospital.

According to sources close to the investigation, one of the detainees was charged with unlawful production and distribution of narcotics back in December.

As reported earlier by SDK, last night’s incident in Ohrid was probably a criminal encounter among drug dealers. According to witnesses, once the three persons entered the restaurant, the person who was later attacked started to curse and insult them, resulting in him being dragged outside and beaten.

Eyewitnesses say the verbal incident between the four individuals did not even mention politics, Bulgarian or Macedonian identities, language or hate speech on that topic. The three detained persons have previously been charged for disruption of public order.

Meanwhile, BTV, citing the Skopje-based Embassy, reported that the Bulgarian government has launched “an operation to evacuate Hristijan Pendikov”, sending a plane with a team from the Military Medical Academy comprised of two doctors and a nurse.