A Serbian Interior Ministry official has requested an explanation from its Slovak counterpart on what grounds Serbian Darko Saric, who is suspected of smuggling 2.7 tons of cocaine, acquired Slovak citizenship in 2006 as well as an ID and a passport, the SITA newswire reported.
Saric is currently on Interpol’s wanted list. The Serbian police prepared a trap for the suspect twice but he managed to escape both times. According to Serbian media, Darko Saric is a member of drug-dealing clan led by the boss of the Montenegrin mafia, which has its own cocaine plantation in South America, SITA wrote.
Slovakia’s Interior Ministry confirmed that it is in touch with Serbia’s security bodies and that an international investigation against Darko Saric was announced. The ministry underscored that Saric got citizenship in January 2006, during the term of the previous government.
The ministry’s spokesperson Erik Tomáš said that the lax legislation effective at that time could be the reason why the smuggler received a Slovak passport. He emphasized that current Minister Robert Kaliňák elaborated a draft bill on state citizenship, which, as of 2007, introduced stricter terms for acquiring citizenship. SITA
Compiled by Michaela Stanková and Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
