Kosovo PM Linked to Organ Trafficking

Kosovo Liberation Army leaders—including Prime Minister Hashim Thaci—ran a Mafia-style crime ring that trafficked in drugs and harvested organs, according to a Council of Europe probe. The human rights watchdog's 2-year inquiry found that men under Thaci's command shot civilians after the 1999 Kosovo war so their kidneys could be harvested and sold on the black market, the Guardian reports.

The chief investigator, who will present his findings to European diplomats tomorrow, says that while Serbian atrocities in the war were deplorable, suspected KLA war crimes were ignored in the interests of stability. Kosovo's government labeled the report "baseless" and accused the investigator of fabricating his findings. "This is Serbian propaganda at its best," a spokesman said.
(More Hashim Thaci stories.)