Data and information about security threats from Serbia’s black market. Intelligence and security information collected from government agencies, news articles and other public data sources.
In the first 7 months of 2013, police in Serbia discovered 30 human trafficking victims, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 27 of the victims were women, and 22 were minors.
During the first 7 months of 2013, police have filled 18 criminal charges related to human trafficking in the country.
In 2011, law enforcement officials in Serbia prosecuted 36 cases of human trafficking.
Source: Nebojsa Kocic, “Serbia: In 2013, 30 victims of human trafficking,” InSerbia, August 26, 2013.
The Government of Serbia reported prosecuting 36 human trafficking cases in 2011. The criminal cases involved 27 cases of sex trafficking and 9 cases of labor trafficking. The cases involved 68 suspected human traffickers.
The number of prosecutions in 2011 was down from the 47 human trafficking cases in 2010 involving 99 suspected traffickers in 2010.
(More human trafficking statistics.)
Source: “TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT, 2012, SERBIA,” US Embassy, Serbia, Accessed May 31, 2013.
Around 120,000 women and children are trafficked in the Balkan countries of Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia each year, according to the International Organisation of Migration. The victims of human trafficking work in the prostitution industry, forced into arraigned marriages, work as slaves in houses and agriculture fields, while the children are forced to be beggars on the streets.
The Red Cross states that people who are already in at-risks populations are targets of human trafficking in the region. This includes refugees in camps, children without parents and people facing economic challenges.
(Victims of human traffickers and their prices.)
Source: Ivana Jovanovic, “Balkan countries join effort in battle against human trafficking,” SETimes, November 15, 2012.
Oil smuggling on the black market in Kosovo is estimated to be a $100 Million industry.
The oil is produced in an oil refinery in Serbia and sold tax free to ethnic Serbs. They then smuggled it into Kosovo with the help of ethnic Albanians and sell the fuel at makeshift gas stations.
Source: Doreen Carvajal, “In Balkans, Smuggling Forges a Rare Unity,” New York Times, October 24, 2011.
The rate of cigarette smuggling in Romania decreased to 11.8 percent in September 2011, down from the 15.7 percent reported in the early summer of 2011. Tobacco smuggling is still down from the previous high of 30 percent in 2010.
According to criminal justice officials, the cigarettes that are smuggled into Romania originate from neighboring countries such as Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.
Source: Otilia Haraga, “Tobacco excise tax collection totals EUR 1.27bln after Q3. Cigarette smuggling declines,” Business Review, October 11, 2011.
An estimated $12.6 Million (9 Million Euros) a year in tax revenue is lost to the Serbian Government due to fuel smuggling.
Source: Tamara Spaić, “Serbia to lose EUR 9 millions each year because of fuel smuggling,” Blic, September 7, 2011.
According to the 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy released by the US State Department, there are between 30,000 to 100,000 drug addicts in Serbia.
Previous to that report, the Public Health Service of Serbia reported that there were 60,000 drug users in the country in 2008.
Between January to September 2010, security agencies in Serbia made 4,186 seizures of 1,010.4 kilograms of illicit drugs. The drugs seized in the country included 108 kilograms of heroin, 814 kilograms of marijuana, 6.5 kilograms of cocaine, 23.5 kilograms and 850 tablets of ecstasy, and 4.2 kilograms and 1,025 tablets of amphetamine.
Source: “INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY, 2011 (SERBIA),” United States Embassy, Serbia, March 3, 2011.
Organized crime groups in Serbia have laundered $1.2 Billion (1 Billion Euros) during the 2000 to 2010 decade, according to intelligence agencies and security analysts.
(See more cases on money laundering.)
Source: Aleksandar Vasovic, “Serb organized crime laundered billion euros: minister,” Reuters, May 6, 2010.
