Serbian Criminal Network dismantled in Spain and the Czech Republic

The Spanish national police and law enforcement authorities from the Czech Republic and Serbia, supported by Europol, have disrupted a Serbian organised crime group operating in Spain and the Czech Republic. This criminal network is suspected of committing a vast array of criminal offences, including 3 homicides (2 in Serbia and one in the Czech Republic) and the production and large-scale distribution of cannabis. 

25 suspects of mostly Serbian nationality have been apprehended (19 in Spain and 6 in the Czech Republic) as a result of the final action day, supported on the spot by Europol experts and carried out by a total of 304 police officers in Spain in the Czech Republic.

During the house searches in Spain, 6 indoor cannabis cultivations were seized together with Euro 50 690, presumably the resulting profit of drug trafficking. In the Czech Republic, the police carried out 6 house searches in private residences, seizing 4 indoor cannabis cultivations, 30 kilogrammes of marijuana ready to be sold on the retail market and Euro 18 500.

The case started thanks to the cooperation with the Serbian Police, who informed their Spanish counterparts that members of an organised crime group originating from the town of Novi Sad and who were responsible for committing a number of criminal offences ranging violent robberies to murders, had moved to Spain to continue their criminal activities with a specific focus on cannabis production and distribution.

One of the most high-profile members of the group, who was already investigated in different European countries and had criminal records in Serbia, was detected in a luxury residential area of the city of Lloret del Mar (Gerona) in July 2015.

This enabled the investigators and Europol to establish his links with this organised crime group also based in the same area. Simultaneously, Serbian authorities reported that the main member of the group had been living in the Czech Republic, where he was investigated for his alleged participation in a murder case that had triggered contacts with the Czech authorities under the coordination of Europol.