| MUP "also net big fish" in Morava |
| 2 November 2009 | 21:25
| Source:
B92 |
BELGRADE --
Serbian police (MUP) officers arrested some "big-time" dealers as they staged a series of raids over the weekend.
 | Veljović, right, is seen during a news conference in Belgrade on Saturday (Beta)
|
This is according to Police Director Milorad Veljović, who today spoke for B92 TV to discuss the MUP operation, dubbed Morava, that saw over 500 people arrested throughout the country in the early hours of Saturday.
Some 100 of those are still behind bars awaiting the public prosecution's next move against them.
However, MUP's top brass are saying that the operation to break up drug trafficking networks will continue, while Veljović sees no merit in some analysts' observations that "only small fish got caught".
"Police are still searching for the top narco bosses," said he.
"In Novi Sad, we arrested a very strong branch of the Montenegrin dealer mafia," Veljović said, and named the suspects as Radoslav Cvijović aka Cviko, Predrag Opačić, and "Alibašić from Tutin" (in Sandžak).
"However, one thing must be clear. Police cannot solve everything in one day, we are working to process much stronger drug dealers," continued the police director.
Serbia's media have been speculating for weeks about the possible arrests of the Šarić brothers, in whose betting parlors MUP officers already made arrests of persons believed to be involved in a recent attempt to smuggle two tons of cocaine from Uruguay.
Veljović reacted to this by saying that "police will not stop".
"I won't mention any names right now. As police director I have the greatest responsibility for the performance of the professional part of the police, and I cannot come forward with the news that has not been checked properly, but I'm convinced, and you should also be convinced, that this country will not stop at this."
He also commended the cooperation from the Ministry of Justice and its head, Snežana Malović, because, as he put it, "it was not easy to get 600 search and arrest warrants".
"The essence of this action is not only to put dealers behind bars, this is about prevention, about demonstrating that in this country, there is unity in the security structures, to start a decisive fight against organized crime," stated Veljović.
He also expresses his belief that the "key to the success" of Operation Morava was the cooperation demonstrated "between police and the government", and said this was the case "because all structures of security services and the state sit in the Council for [National] Security".
The media in Belgrade are today also trying to "decode the operation's codename", and write that it could have to do with the Morava River in central Serbia, but that it also may refer to the term police are allegedly using in their internal communication, where "Morava 1" stands for "minister of the interior".
However, the MUP sources have reportedly declined to reveal what was "behind the name".
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