He added that the police action was still underway.

Veljović said that the arrests took place in Belgrade, Pančevo, Novi Bečej and Novi Pazar.

The action was carried out by members of the Gendarmerie as part of a regional police operation at about 20 locations around 6:00 CET.

Eight customs officers and 14 directors of privately-owned companies are among the arrested persons.

B92 has learnt that the arrested persons are suspected of malverzations with goods from the EU.

They are suspected of importing large amounts of goods from the EU member states and falsifying the import documents, under-declaring the value of the imported goods.

The suspects incurred damages worth around RSD 1bn to the state budget through tax and customs duty evasion.