Serbia: 2008-2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BELGRADE 001139

INL FOR J LYLE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR SR
SUBJECT: Serbia: 2008-2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy
Report (INCSR) Part I: Drugs and Chemical Control

REF: STATE 100992


I. Summary

The Republic of Serbia is a major transit country for narcotics and
other drugs along the Balkan smuggling corridor from Turkey to
Central and Western Europe. In 2008, Serbia took measures to
improve its capacity to combat drug trafficking through new laws and
law enforcement initiatives that tightened the regulations on
narcotics, corruption, and organized crime, and included legislation
authorizing asset seizure. Serbia's drug laws are adequate, but
strategic coordination among law enforcement and judicial bodies is
problematic. While Serbia realized record-setting successes with
drug interdictions and seizures, organized crime groups still
exploited Serbia's inadequate border controls to transfer heroin,
cocaine, marijuana, and synthetic drugs. A small amount of smuggled
narcotics remains in Serbia for domestic consumption. As
Yugoslavia's successor state, the Republic of Serbia is party to the
1988 UN Drug Convention.

II. Status of Country

Serbia is primarily a transit country for the movement of narcotics,
although law enforcement recently uncovered two synthetic narcotics
labs near Belgrade. Serbia's porous borders make the country
attractive for transit. Heroin and marijuana are the most prevalent
narcotics, transported from Central Asia along the Balkan Route.
There is also an increase in cocaine from Central Asia through the
Balkan route, according to the Customs Administration Enforcement
Directorate. Increasingly, Serbian organized crime groups are
smuggling drugs from South America directly to Western Europe,
bypassing Serbia, according to the Interior Ministry's Drug
Smuggling Suppression Department.
The Serbian government estimates that relatively small amounts of
narcotics remain in the country for domestic consumption.

III. Country Actions against Drugs in 2008

Policy Initiatives: Serbia's Parliament passed a set of laws to
enhance law enforcement's efforts to combat narcotics smuggling,
organized crime, and corruption in October 2008. The package of
laws includes a law to regulate immigration and movement of people
through the country, an asset seizure law, and a law creating a new
Anticorruption Agency. The Finance Ministry is drafting a Customs
Service Law to reorganize the Customs Administration, provide
clearer links to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, and
enable Customs officers involved in investigations to testify in
court. (Currently Customs does not have law enforcement authority
and cannot testify in court or continue investigations after drug
seizures.) The Justice Ministry is drafting a new Criminal
Procedure Code that would enable prosecutor-led investigations, plea
bargaining, and the use of special investigative techniques such as
wire tapping. The government has developed an Integrated Border
Management Initiative, to improve coordination among the agencies
involved in border control. There is as yet no central oversight of
the initiative, but individual agencies have begun implementation.


Law Enforcement Efforts and Accomplishments: A number of law
enforcement agencies are responsible for combating drug-related
crimes, including the Interior Ministry's Drug Smuggling Suppression
Department, the Finance Ministry's Customs Administration, the
Interior Ministry's Border Police, and the Interior Ministry's Drug
Addiction Suppression Department. While these agencies report
generally good operational cooperation, there is no government-wide
coordinating body that addresses law enforcement efforts.

The Drug Smuggling Department continues to develop a database for
crimes, arrests, and seizures related to heroin, cocaine, marijuana,
synthetic drugs, and chemical precursors.

Officers in the Interior Ministry participate in workshops organized
by the OSCE, the Southeast Europe Cooperative Initiative's (SECI)
Center for Combating Trans-border Crime, the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC),the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction, and other international organizations. Serbia hosts law
enforcement liaison officers from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Italy,
Australia, and other countries in the region. The Interior Ministry
conducts joint investigations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and
Croatia and provides intelligence to Western European countries,
which aids in seizures in those countries. The Customs
Administration participates in regional exercises. Customs officers
participate in OSCE train the trainer courses, and the Customs
Administration recently developed a new specialized
counter-narcotics course for customs officers.

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Serbia interdicted a record amount of narcotics in 2008. The
Customs Administration seized approximately twice as much heroin and
cocaine from January to July 2008 compared with the same period in

2007. Law enforcement seized 14.4 kg of heroin at the Merdare
border crossing with Kosovo in November 2008. In October 2008, law
enforcement seized 265 kg of marijuana at the Montenegro border,
Serbia's biggest marijuana seizure in the past decade. The Drug
Smuggling Suppression Department shut down two amphetamine labs
located near Belgrade, in December 2007 and March 2008.

From January to June 2008, the Drug Smuggling Suppression Department
and Customs Administration Law Enforcement Directorate made 3,379
drug seizures, including 410 kg of marijuana, 114 kg of heroin, 9.5
kg of cocaine, 1,006 tablets of Ecstasy, 45,976 other narcotic
tablets, and small amounts of other drugs. The Interior Ministry
reports that all Interior Ministry agencies made 2,043 seizures from
July to October 2008, including 850.7 kg of marijuana, 60.7 kg of
heroin, 750 grams of cocaine, 650 grams of other drugs, and 6,939
tablets. According to the Customs Administration, the price of
heroin on the street remains the same this year, suggesting that
these seizures are not affecting domestic availability.

Police arrested high level organizers in both synthetic lab cases.
All but one of the organizers, a foreign national who remains at
large, remain in detention while the trial is underway in the
December 2007 case, and the organizers in the March 2008 case are in
investigative detention pending trial.

Under Article 246 of the Criminal Code, Production, Distribution,
and Possession of Narcotics, 2,978 individuals were tried and 2,811
were convicted in 2007. Arrests and prosecutions for 2008 are
approximately the same as in recent years, according to the Justice
Ministry. Defendants are usually drug users, street dealers, or
couriers. Few major narcotics dealers ever appear in court. Most
prosecutions (nearly 80% in 2007) are for possession, which carries
more lenient sentences, than for production or distribution (18% of
cases in 2007). Most sentences are light or suspended, or are for
monetary fines or community service instead of jail time. A more
strategic approach to cooperation among agencies would improve
investigations, according to the OSCE. Law enforcement agencies
believe that pending legislation enabling prosecutor-led
investigations, to replace investigative judges, will improve trial
outcomes.

Corruption: Corruption within Serbia's law enforcement agencies
responsible for counter narcotics remains a problem, in large part
due to low pay. In a major corruption investigation in 2006, 3% of
Customs enforcement officials were arrested and removed from their
posts. Customs has replaced those individuals with new officers.
Parliament passed a law on October 23, 2008 establishing a new
Anticorruption Agency, an independent state body that will implement
the National Anticorruption Strategy.

No evidence exists that the Serbian government encourages illicit
production or distribution of narcotics, or actively launders
proceeds from illegal drug transactions. There is no evidence that
any senior government official engages in, encourages, or
facilitates the illicit production or distribution of drugs. The
Republic of Serbia is a party to the 2003 UN Convention against
Corruption.

Agreements and Treaties: Serbia became the legal successor state to
the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro on June 3, 2006. All
international treaties and agreements continue in force, including
the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention as
amended by the 1972 Protocol, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic
Substances, and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime, and its protocols against trafficking in persons and migrant
smuggling. Serbia has cooperative agreements with Slovenia,
Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina on issues relating to cross-border
narcotics transfers. Serbia signed a trilateral agreement with
Romania and Bulgaria for counter-narcotics cooperation in 2008. The
1902 extradition treaty between the United States and the Kingdom of
Serbia remains in force between the United States and Serbia.
Serbian law prohibits extradition of Serbian citizens, except to the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Drug Flow/Transit: Serbia sits directly on the Balkan narcotics
trafficking route. The UNODC estimates that that over 80 tons of
heroin travels along this route each year. Heroin grown and
processed in Afghanistan is smuggled through Turkey, Bulgaria, and
Kosovo into Serbia, and onward into Western Europe. The Customs
Administration estimates that 5-10% of heroin stays in the country,
but Serbia primarily serves as a transit point. Large amounts of

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marijuana and increasing amounts of cocaine from Central Asia also
transit Serbia along the Balkan route. The Customs Administration
reports an increasing number of individuals traveling by air from
Central Asia to Serbia via Eastern Europe carrying ingested packages
of cocaine. There is a decrease in cocaine from South America. The
Drug Smuggling Suppression Department believes that Serbian
organized crime groups are bypassing Serbia and smuggling cocaine
directly from South America to Western Europe. There is an increase
in trafficking of synthetic drugs and precursors.

Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction): The government conducts an
addiction prevention program in primary schools, "Drug Zero, Life
One," which includes lectures for students, parents, and teachers
and referrals for families who seek help, but the program is not
mandatory and individual schools choose whether to participate. The
Serbian government and the Belgrade city government conducted a
Drug-Free Month campaign in June 2008 with the support of UNODC,
UNICEF, WHO, the Serbian Red Cross, and Serbian anti-drug NGOs. The
National Network for the Fight against Drugs, a network of anti-drug
NGOs, maintains a website with information about drug addiction and
prevention. A task force composed of the Ministries of Health,
Education and Sport, Interior, and Justice is developing a National
Strategy for the Fight against Drugs.

There is a lack of accurate data on drug users. The Public Health
Bureau estimates there are approximately 60,000 drug users in
Serbia. The Institute for Addictive Diseases runs outpatient and
inpatient drug rehabilitation programs. There are no programs for
reintegration of drug addicts.

IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs

Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation: The Serbian Government
works closely with the United States and EU countries to reform and
improve its law enforcement and judicial capacity. The United
States has provided extensive technical assistance and equipment
donations to the police, customs services, border police, and
judiciary. Several USG agencies have programs that directly or
indirectly support counter-narcotics activities in Serbia, including
the Department of Justice (ICITAP),Department of Homeland Security,
Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and Department of
State. The Departments of State and Justice (OPDAT) have also been
instrumental in supporting the Special Courts for Organized Crime
and War Crimes. The programs are aimed at professionalizing the
police and customs services, improving the ability of Serbia to
prosecute corruption and organized crime, including money laundering
and illicit trafficking, and increasing the ability of the judiciary
to effectively address serious crime.

The Road Ahead: The United States will continue to support the
efforts of Serbian law enforcement to combat narcotics smuggling in
the region. During the next year the United States would like to
see additional progress in Serbian judicial and law enforcement
reform, including tougher sentences for major narcotics dealers and
more coordination among enforcement agencies and prosecutors to
combat organized crime. Serbia needs to improve its demand
reduction programs. The United States should continue to assist
Serbia in improving the skill set and professionalism of its law
enforcement agencies and encourage those reforms that will improve
system-wide effectiveness. The Customs Administration specified a
need for small drug test kits for use in airports and additional
train the trainer courses.

MUNTER