Jočić: No terrorist groups in Serbia

The interior minister says Serbian police (MUP) saw protecting the state and its citizens from crime as its priority. Speaking about the fight against organized crime, Dragan Jocic (DSS) said that while a lot of progress had been made, Serbia still saw “symptoms of it in many segments” of its society. Jocic: No terrorist groups in Serbia “In transition, it’s a well known fact that any country that goes through such a period, does not have a single sector of societal life which has not been infected by organized crime." "Our country is no exception,” he said in an interview with the Tanjug news agency, presenting his ministry's achievements in the cabinet's 100 days in office. “Serbia is a transit country for a large amount of narcotics pass, but some of those stay here. I must admit that drugs are very abundant,” Jocic said. Jocic added that a lot had been done to secure the borders since police took over from the army. He said that he believed there were no organized terrorist groups in Serbia, and that they did not have the political support required to exist, though there were several occurrences and groups that were being monitored closely. “As a result we have formed a special unit to follow all developments related to terrorism, in cooperation, of course, with the Security Information Agency,” Jocic said. He added that the police were very familiar with the problem of terrorism and that they had good cooperation with the forces from around the region. He also said that the situation in the south of Serbia was stable. “Stopping terrorism from crossing administrative borders and stopping the path of organized crime is one of the main priorities of the police in that region." "This despite the fact that several political structures there are oriented towards political extremism, asking for 'demilitarization', and pushing for the independence of the so-called Presevo Valley, in order to join it with Kosovo,” the minister said. Jocic said MUP in the south was functioning well, where regular police cooperated with the elite Gendarmerie, without stepping out our their jurisdiction and maintaining a high level of stability. “Serbia is more than capable of maintaining peace in that region,” he said. The MUP is monitoring sects and cults, Jocic said, and added that the people of Serbia must help the police in preventive measures against such organizations. Serbia is safe: Dragan Jocic (FoNet, archive)

Jočić: No terrorist groups in Serbia

“In transition, it’s a well known fact that any country that goes through such a period, does not have a single sector of societal life which has not been infected by organized crime."

"Our country is no exception,” he said in an interview with the Tanjug news agency, presenting his ministry's achievements in the cabinet's 100 days in office.

“Serbia is a transit country for a large amount of narcotics pass, but some of those stay here. I must admit that drugs are very abundant,” Jočić said.

Jočić added that a lot had been done to secure the borders since police took over from the army.

He said that he believed there were no organized terrorist groups in Serbia, and that they did not have the political support required to exist, though there were several occurrences and groups that were being monitored closely.

“As a result we have formed a special unit to follow all developments related to terrorism, in cooperation, of course, with the Security Information Agency,” Jočić said.

He added that the police were very familiar with the problem of terrorism and that they had good cooperation with the forces from around the region.

He also said that the situation in the south of Serbia was stable.

“Stopping terrorism from crossing administrative borders and stopping the path of organized crime is one of the main priorities of the police in that region."

"This despite the fact that several political structures there are oriented towards political extremism, asking for 'demilitarization', and pushing for the independence of the so-called Preševo Valley, in order to join it with Kosovo,” the minister said.

Jočić said MUP in the south was functioning well, where regular police cooperated with the elite Gendarmerie, without stepping out our their jurisdiction and maintaining a high level of stability.

“Serbia is more than capable of maintaining peace in that region,” he said.

The MUP is monitoring sects and cults, Jočić said, and added that the people of Serbia must help the police in preventive measures against such organizations.