20 members of organized criminal group arrested in Serbia in 6 months: They operated in 4 countries

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Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday that members of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP), the Service for the Fight against Organized Crime, in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance - the Tax Administration, Europol, Eurojust, and the police forces of Romania, Finland, and Estonia - as part of an international police operation dubbed, "Santa" - arrested a total of 20 people in Serbia, from April to mid-October 2024.

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10 persons were arrested yesterday, on suspicion that they committed criminal acts of association for the purpose of committing criminal acts, unauthorized production and distribution of narcotic drugs, money laundering and illegal production, possession, carrying and sale of weapons and explosive materials.

"During yesterday's synchronized operation, the organizers of this international organized crime group D.S. (42), N.P. (32), T.R. (55) and J.D. (36), as well as its members S.I. (55), M.S. (48), B.P. (38) D.P. (41), I.Z. (46) and G M. (50) were arrested, while one person is being actively searched for. At the same time, a total of 16 members of this organized criminal group were arrested in the territory of Romania, Finland and Estonia.

It is suspected that they bought large quantities of medications that are on the list of psychoactive controlled substances through the business entity Gagi Farm, and then falsely reported their sale to the business entities Emafarm and Lazareks based in the territory of the Autonomous Province Kosovo and Metohija, while the said drugs were (in fact) sold in Romania, Finland and Estonia.

During yesterday's operation, the Serbian police confiscated from the suspects about 200,000 pills that are on the list of psychoactive controlled substances, several pieces of weapons, about 25,000 euros and several cars, as well as documents related to business entities," said Dacic.

He pointed out that from April until September, more members of this organized criminal group were arrested in Serbia: S.G. (57), Z.V. (68), V.J. (48), J.J. (36), V.C. (52), A.K. (51). ), A.T. (45), V.S. (26), I.A. (48) and N.T. (39).

"In that period, more than 3,000,000 pills on the list of psychoactive controlled substances were seized, which, it is suspected, were intended for resale. In the same period, several members of this international organized criminal group were arrested in Romania, Finland, and Estonia and more than 3,000,000 pills that contain psychoactive controlled substances were seized. The suspects will be detained for up to 48 hours (in police custody) and they will be brought before the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, along with a criminal complaint," he added.

(Telegraf.rs)