Sixteen people were arrested in Serbia on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, illegal trade, falsification of trade documents, and abuse of office. An additional 14 people have been named in the indictment, while three of these suspects are still at large.

The Serbian Police Directorate conducted the investigation and the arrests in cooperation with the Tax Department and the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the indictment, between Feb. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010, the suspects hired people to pose as owners of “laundering companies,” and falsified documents about merchandise and services allegedly provided by these companies. The forms referred to fake business deals between the “laundering” companies, with a cash flow of nearly US$1 million.

The money was later transferred from the front companies to bank accounts connected to the agricultural estates of seven of the suspects. They then withdrew money sometimes under the guise of business expenses. They would return the cash to the original financial backers. In this manner the suspects acquired nearly US$1 million and evaded some US$360,000 in taxes.

A Bulgarian gang member infamous for brutal torture tactics was arrested in London this weekend while exercising at his gym.

Tihomir Georgiev, 43, known as “Tisho the Boxer” was on Interpol’s “most wanted’ list after fleeing his home country where he is suspected of murder, according to The Sun.  According to the British newspaper, police were tipped off by its investigators about the gym.

Georgiev is a former colleague of another Bulgarian gangster and drug dealer, Zlatomir Ivanov, known as ‘The Beret,’ the lead defendant in a Bulgarian trial of 21 defendants accused of running an organized crime ring that engaged in prostitution, drug trafficking, money laundering and murder.  Georgiev was part of the trial, but tried to escape charges by testifying against Ivanov.  He “gave chilling evidence of how he had butchered double-crossing drug dealers for his boss,” writes the paper.

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is facing a new set of corruption charges as details emerge about electricity contracts he oversaw that damaged Croatia’s state-owned electric company HEP by US$100 million.

The Croatian Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK) included Sanader in its investigation into HEP’s finances two weeks ago, based on a witness statement that puts him at the heart of the scandal.  According to the indictment, Sanader accepted a bribe to ensure lower electricity prices

While in prison for corruption in another case, former Croatian Vice Premier Damir Polancec provided testimony and meeting notes which pointed to Sanader’s involvement in the HEP affair. Sanader allegedly pushed Polancec, former head of HEP Ivan Mravak, and Ivan Kostan, the former head of a Croatian Aluminum company TLM, to sign a set of contracts.

Bulgarian crime boss Kiril Rashkov, known as Tsar Kiro, was sentenced Monday to 3.5 years in prison.  He was found guilty of making death threats to two people in his small town of Katunitsa, near Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city.

A court in Asenovgrad pronounced Rashkov guilty on charges of threatening to kill Veselin Hristov and Ivanka Petrov on Sept. 23.  Both said Rashkov threatened them by reaching for a knife on his belt.

The verdict is based on testimony from twelve eye witnesses as well as silent video footage showing a man gesturing angrily from a black sports utility vehicle at Hristov and Petrov in front of their home.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been following the investigation into organ trafficking in Kosovo, according to the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant,. This is due in part to the fact that two Russian citizens have been identified  as victims in the Kosovo organ trafficking case, Vladimir Markin of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office told the newspaper Jan. 16. The committee also confirmed that it found its own  evidence linking Kosovo authorities to the case. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a Jan. 18 news conference that his government would insist on the its own investigation.

Serbia and Russia have both raised questions about  investigation the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) has been conducting into allegations of organ trafficking in Kosovo. . In April, EULEX asked the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for legal assistance. However, despite repeated inquiries from EULEX and prompts from the Ministry, the Investigating Committee  has not shared its findings with the EU authorities, according to  Kommersant.

Serbian fugitive Darko Šarić is hiding in South Africa protected by local mafia and corrupt police, according to the Daily Voice, a South African newspaper [who misspell his name but use his photo].

He is living under a pseudonym in the province of Gauteng, which contains the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg, according to a whistleblower who calls himself “Uncle Sam.”

Šarić , virtually unknown until October 2009 is now one of the world’s most sought after criminals after Interpol seized more than two tons of cocaine near the Uruguayan coast in an operation dubbed “Balkan Warrior.” Serbian authorities say he heads a major drug trafficking network from South Africa to Europe, and estimates that he made more than €1 billion annually.  Šarić’s assets in Serbia have been seized but he allegedly still owns real estate in Montenegro.

Montenegro police have arrested people in three cities and filed criminal charges against 11 alleged drug dealers as the result of  a seven-month operation dubbed “Zelena milja” (“Green Mile”). The suspects are accused of operating an organized crime group that produced and smuggled marijuana from Albania, through Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Croatia.

Police seized 110 kilograms of marijuana and ,suspect that the arrested smuggled an additional 30 kilograms of marijuana throughout the region. The police also seized several handguns, rifles, and bazookas.

This is the latest in a series of Montenegrin attempts to crack down on organized crime with regional partners.  On Dec. 26,police arrested 16 suspected members of an international marijuana smuggling ring, seizing 17 kilograms of cannabis. The arrests were part of “Trio,” an operation simultaneously conducted in Montenegro, BiH, and Albania. Begun last June, the operation  yielded 350 kilograms of skunk cannabis, along with weapons, vehicles, and suspected drug money.

As credit ratings plummet in response to the European financial crisis, positive business stories have become hard to find.  But a new report by think tank SOS Impresa shows that someone in Italy has been turning a profit during the economic slump: the mafia.

Mafia organizations including the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra taken together have become the country’s ‘largest bank,’ with €65 billion (US$ 82.7) in liquidity, according to the report.

“In this moment of crisis, the ‘Mafia SpA’ [Italian for ‘Mafia Incorporated’] is the only entrepreneurial group which can make investments,” said Marco Venturi, president of Conferescenti, Italy’s largest association of business owners.

Cigarette smuggling is on the rise in Romania according to data collected by Japan Tobacco International (JTI)  Smuggling has gone back to the levels reported in July, 15 percent of all cigarette sales, up from 11.8 percent in September.

Although the trend is upward, this  is still less than half the historic rate registered in January 2010: 36.2 percent of total sales, which occurred following the imposition of a STATE? tax increase.

The smuggling rate lowered, producing an average rate of 15 percent for 2010.

Law enforcement agencies across Europe have arrested 112 people in 22 countries suspected of setting up  file-sharing networks of child pornography.

The investigation, “Operation Icarus,” spanned 26 countries coordinated by Europol and identified an additional 157 suspects.

The operation focused on perpetrators who share extreme video material, especially babies and toddlers subject to rape and sexual abuse, according to a news release from Europol. Previously unknown networks of child sex offenders using the Internet to spread such material were uncovered.

“This operation shows how the Internet is helping offenders to develop better techniques for sharing images on a global basis and for protecting their identity,” Rob Wainwright, director of Europol said.