Serbia fell eight spots on this year’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, ranking 86th among 182 countries.
Serbian Chief of Criminal Police (MUP) Darko Senić, told “Dani” that of 852 reports filed, 217 corruption charges were brought against 410 individuals, for a total of 310 crimes. Senić also noted that nearly half of all murders that occur in Belgrade are related to drug gang turf wars, and that more than a third of all property crimes are committed by drug addicts.
According to Senić, law enforcement has doubled the quantity of drugs seized since last year. He cited operation “Geto,” which resulted in the arrest of 17 members of a criminal group, and seizure of more than 13 kilograms of heroin. The operation put an end to a heroin smuggling channel between Novi Pazar, a town in the southwest of Serbia, and Belgrade.
“Between January and October this year, 1,562 instances of drug seizure were recorded. About 165 kilograms of marijuana, 28.5 kilograms of heroin, and nearly 2.6 kilograms of cocaine were seized in this period” Senić said.
Belgrade both serves as a transit point for large amounts of narcotics being smuggled into the Western Europe, and it also has its own narcotics market, he said.
