The security services of Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia as part of the coordinated international police operation "Balls" arrested 80 people suspected of complicity in the criminal group of drug lord Darko Šarić. The Italian Anti-Mafia Directorate issued a warrant for the arrest of 108 suspects for the procurement and distribution of nacrotics for the Italian market, including nine persons against whom the Serbian prosecutor's office has already initiated proceedings.
The Montenegrin police arrested the brother of Darko Šarić, Duško Šarić, from Pljevlja, as well as Serbian citizens Vitomir Bajić and Srpko Klisura from Priboj, on the basis of an Interpol warrant in Rome. Šarić was arrested just a few days after Montenegro extradited Duško Duka Mićunović to Italy, who was identified as the organizer of a group involved in international drug smuggling.
In search of persons wanted by Interpol, a search was made of several buildings, including the Top Hill discotheque and the Max Prestige hotel in Budva.
Based on the orders of the investigating judge of the Special Department for Organized Crime of the High Court in Belgrade, four people were arrested on suspicion of having committed criminal acts of conspiracy to commit criminal acts and unauthorized production and distribution of narcotic drugs: Zlatko Đorđević from Belgrade and Božidar Kapetanović from Kragujevac , Goran Živanović and Gordana Milivojević-Rakić. At the request of the Italian prosecutor's office, 8 more people are wanted in Serbia for drug trafficking. The action, which is still ongoing, is coordinated by the BIA, and around 300 members of the Gendarmerie are also participating, confirmed the Minister of Police, Ivica Dačić.
Members of the MUP, the Criminal Police Directorate, the Service for Combating Organized Crime and the Gendarmerie searched several apartments and other premises in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Užice, Priboj and Bajina Bašta.
After an investigation that lasted two years, the police in Milan, in cooperation with the Anti-Mafia Directorate and Interpol, discovered two networks - one consisting mainly of Serbs, Slovenians and Montenegrins. Between 2007 and 2009, that group delivered between XNUMX and XNUMX kilograms of cocaine per month in Milan. The second group operated in Milan, Turin, Genoa and Como. Darko Šarić's clan allegedly ousted the most powerful Calabrian mafia organization "Ndrageta" from the Italian drug market.
On November 15, the Italian police seized one ton of pure cocaine, worth close to 250 million euros, from a shipping container containing agricultural equipment from Brazil. In the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro, drugs were discovered based on a tip from British officials dealing with organized crime.
The investigation is also being conducted in Uruguay and Argentina. Among them are Darko Šarić and Goran Soković, who are accused in Serbia of smuggling more than two tons of cocaine from South America, as well as of laundering money earned from drug sales.
A year ago, namely, more than two tons of cocaine were seized near the coast of Uruguay as part of the "Balkan Warrior" operation, and several people were arrested in Serbia, and an arrest warrant was also issued for Darko Šarić. A Serbian-Montenegrin political-police dispute broke out over his location in Montenegro and his extradition. The Serbian Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime indicted Darko Saric and 19 other people for smuggling 2.174 kilograms of cocaine from South America in October last year, as well as for smuggling 235 kilograms of cocaine through Italy in January 2009. For the confiscation of 235 kilograms of cocaine on January 19, 2009 in Tyrrhenia, near Pisa, proceedings are being conducted in Italy as well. In Italy, proceedings were initiated against Stanislav Udrih, Dragan Gaćeš and Milorad Stijepović, who were arrested with drugs, while in Serbia, an indictment was brought against the organizers of drug smuggling.
As "Vreme" wrote on April 8 of this year, the surname Šarić was first mentioned in crime chronicles in February 2007, when the Belgrade police seized 20 kilograms of heroin and arrested four drug dealers, one of whom was Arso Šarić from Bara, and their base was a garage in New Belgrade that was rented by the now arrested Duško Šarić, then described as a "businessman from Pljevlje", Darko's younger brother. There are indications that Šarić laundered money in Serbia by buying many companies.
Now, in addition to Serbia, Italy has also issued a warrant for Darko Šarić on the suspicion that he is behind smuggling Serbian-Montenegrin groups, which for several years did business with Milanese clans and certain criminal groups from the north of Italy, and that he sold drugs in shipments of no less than 200 kilograms. . Darko Šarić's clan is allegedly organized on a paramilitary basis, with cells in Serbia, Slovenia, Italy, but throughout South America and Eastern Europe. The Serbian Prosecutor's Office estimates that after the issuance of the Italian warrant, the chances of finding Darko Šarić are now higher and hopes that he will be extradited to Serbia, of which he is a citizen.
