Major Balkan Drug Trafficker Arrested in Serbia, Authorities Say

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/balkan-drug-trafficker-arrested-in-serbia.html

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PARIS — Darko Saric, described as being among the most feared and wanted drug traffickers in the Balkans, was arrested in Serbia on Tuesday and charged with smuggling more than five tons of cocaine and laundering at least $30 million as leader of an elaborate drug ring that stretched from South America to western Europe, the Serbian authorities said.

Serbian law enforcement officials said Mr. Saric ran an extensive drug trafficking operation, smuggling cocaine from countries like Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay to western Europe via the Balkans, Italy and Slovenia. They said Mr. Saric and his gang laundered part of the proceeds through properties and businesses, including restaurants.

Mr. Saric, 44, arrived in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, on Tuesday after traveling through Montenegro from an unspecified Latin American country, according to B92, an independent Serbian broadcaster. The authorities said they would not identify the country, for fear of tipping off Mr. Saric’s associates, 18 of whom remain at large. So far, 11 people accused of being his fellow gang members have been arrested and are on trial in Belgrade.

Officials said Mr. Saric had been on the run since October 2009, when a shipment of almost three tons of cocaine that he was smuggling was confiscated near the Uruguayan coast as part of an operation, called “Balkan Warrior,” that included agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration in the United States.

After realizing the authorities were closing in on him a few months ago, Mr. Saric contacted the Serbian government through his lawyer, officials said. He eventually agreed to surrender to avoid a bloody shootout, provided he was first allowed to see his lawyer and his mother and son in Montenegro, they said. The Serbian news media reported that Mr. Saric, who was filmed leaving a government airplane in handcuffs, may have altered his appearance with plastic surgery.

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s first deputy prime minister, said the arrest was the culmination of a more than nine-month manhunt that encompassed four South American countries and a clandestine surveillance operation of Mr. Saric and his family, B92 reported. A special team of 100 Serbian officers charged with hunting Mr. Saric had cooperated closely with more than a dozen foreign agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said.

Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said it was clear that Mr. Saric had not been acting alone. He said Mr. Saric was last seen in his native Pljevlja, in northeast Montenegro, before he disappeared and went underground.