Serbia: Police arrest three suspects in South American cocaine trafficking bust

(AKI) – Serbian police on Thursday arrested three alleged members of an international criminal gang suspected of smuggling over two tonnes of cocaine from South America to Europe, the state prosecutor for organised crime said on Thursday.

The police arrested Boban Stojiljkovic and Aleksandar Misic from the southern Serbian city of Vranje and Marko Dabovic from Belgrade.

Stojiljkovic, Misic and Dabovic were suspected of handling cocaine which was transported from Uruguay to Serbia and Montenegro and distributed in Italy and other west Europe countries, the prosecutor said.

They are suspected of being members of a criminal gang headed by Montenegrin Darko Saric, who allegedly masterminded a criminal racket smuggling cocaine from Uruguay to Europe.

Serbian police arrested in October 2009 some twenty people in connection with the drugs trafficking racket, but Saric is still at large and all his property in Serbia has been confiscated.

Several people were sent to trial over the racket in Serbia, Uruguay, Italy, Slovenia and Brazil.

The bust followed a joint operation operation dubbed “Balkan warrior” involving anti-drug smuggling agencies from the US and other countries.