Law enforcement

BELGRADE - The government intends to ensure that no criminal can feel safe in the country, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said as the Gendarmerie celebrated its day on Friday.

"We must break the back of organised crime in this country," Stefanovic said at a ceremony hosted by the 2nd Gendarmerie Squad in Rakovica, Belgrade.

President meets with Gendarmerie commander

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić conferred on Wednesday with Gendarmerie Commander Milenko Božić on the occasion of the upcoming day of this MUP unit.

The president "congratulated the forces on efficient organization and aid they offered during floods."

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic conferred on Wednesday with Gendarmerie Commander Milenko Bozovic on the occasion of the Gendarmerie Day and congratulated the forces on efficient organization and aid they offered during floods.

The Albanian authorities are now in control of Lazarat after a week of battles with heavily-armed marijuana traffickers, and hundreds of police officers are securing the village, sweeping buildings for drugs, weapons and ammunition.

The village had been off-limits to local police for more than a decade, becoming a synonymous with uncontrolled crime.

A police officer has been suspended and was facing felony charges this weekend for allegedly embezzling over 300,000 euros from his own department.

According to the case file, authorities believe the officer, who was in charge of the cafeteria at Athens Police Headquarters, embezzled the cash over a period of five years.

President Tomislav Nikolic on Friday called for changes in the police, saying they were needed to support the fight against crime in the country.

"I call on the government to appoint honest crime fighters and ensure that those responsible are doing the job they are entrusted with," Nikolic said.

President calls for "changes in Serbian police"

BELGRADE -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić called on Friday for changes to take place in key positions in the Serbian police as he is unsatisfied with their operation.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic called Friday for changes at key positions in the police as he is unsatisfied with its operation, and urged the government to continue the reforms in this sector since, as he put it, this is the only way to ensure a genuine fight against crime.

BELGRADE - Rodoljub Sabic, commissioner for information of public importance and personal data protection, ordered the Security Information Agency (BIA) to submit the data regarding the number of persons placed under surveillance in the course of 2013 to non-governmental organization Youth Initiative for Human Rights within five days.

Authorities say they have evidence suggesting that convicted criminal Panayiotis Vlastos is behind two bomb attacks on targets related to Yiannis Sbokos, a former Defense Ministry general secretary and a close aide of ex-minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, jailed for money laundering in October. All three men are currently in Korydallos Prison.