US Film Maker Claims Macedonia Customs Robbed Him

US documentary maker Rick Ray claims his film equipment was stolen on the Macedonian border, and that customs officers detained him and sent him to trial in Skopje where he had to pay a fine, all on the false premise that he had not declared his equipment.

The deputy director for professional standards at Macedonian Customs, Igor Jakimovski, told BIRN on Wednesday, when asked about the matter: "In all cases where there is a reasonable suspicion of a misdeed, appropriate measures will be taken."

In a lengthy YouTube testimony published on Tuesday, the US author of the documentary "10 Questions for the Dalai Lama" and other travel documentaries said he had a harrowing experience with Macedonian customs who stole his equipment and made him go to court on a fake pretext.   

He also said he was not the only tourist treated this way at the Medzitlija border crossing with Greece near the town of Bitola.

"As I was about to learn, on some of the lonelier roads around Macedonia, corrupt customs officials are conducting aggressive raids on vehicles to pick up drones and other luxury items for resale. Tourist cars and cars with license plates from EU countries seem to be especially targeted," he said in the video.

Ray claims that after accusing him of not declaring the drones that he uses for filming, which he had no legal obligation to do, the customs officers seized them and also held him for five hours before ordering him to appear in court in Skopje the next day.

"They took me into a room where they aggressively and quite viciously questioned me and held me for five hours," Ray said.

He said he was only released after threatening to sue them but still had to appear in court the next day, where he was fined 500...