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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Police seize 536 kilograms of narcotics during the past year

Belgrade, 18 June 2008

Coordinator in the anti-smuggling department of the Customs Administration of the Serbian Ministry of Finance Goran Vukosavljevic stated today that customs officials seized 536 kilograms of narcotics and 57,460 ephedrine pills during the past year.

Aleksandar Vulovic and Goran Vukosavljevic

Vukosavljevic said at a press conference that since July 1, 2007 and June 18, 2008, the police uncovered attempts of smuggling 204.4 kg of heroin, 11.7 kg of cocaine, 278 kg of marijuana, 42.4 kg of opium and 57,460 ephedrine pills.

He said that the major operation to seize heroin took place in October 2007, when customs officials found 161 boxes with 163 kg of heroin in a truck with Turkish licence plates, carrying a diplomatic shipment to Austria, France and the Netherlands.

In December 2007, the police found 11.1 kg of heroin on two Bulgarians in a bus going from Sofia to Amsterdam, at the Gradina border crossing with Bulgaria, Vukosavljevic said and explained that Serbia is in the central part of the so-called “Balkan heroin route”, through which 80% of heroin intended for the Western European market passes.

The greatest seizure of cocaine took place on June 13 of this year, when the police found 7 kg of cocaine at the Batrovci border crossing in a truck owned by Vladimir Dostanic from Sremska Mitrovica.

The same month, customs officials prevented the smuggling of 461 grams of cocaine at the Nikola Tesla airport in Belgrade. The narcotics were discovered on a Macedonian who swallowed 41 sachets filled with cocaine in order to smuggle the drugs, Vukosavljevic said.

According to Vukosavljevic, customs officers found 42.23 kilograms of opium in a car at the Gradina border crossing packed in 19 packets. This was the only seizure of opium in the previous period.

Two Serbian citizens, he specified, attempted to smuggle 275 kilograms of marijuana into Serbia from Montenegro, but they were prevented and the drugs were seized. Customs officers also found more than 57,000 ephedrine tablets at the Strezimirovci border crossing with Bulgaria. The tablets were concealed in a boiler.

Assistant director at the sector for monitoring the implementation of customs regulations at the Customs Administration Aleksandar Vulovic said that more drugs are now being seized because of better cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, and also due to the fact that more attempts are being made to smuggle drugs.

Vulovic said that in June an attempt to smuggle €351,000 out of the country was uncovered, €10,000 was returned to the offender, which is the sum that can be taken out of Serbia legally without notification, and the rest was held until the end of the trial.