Organized crime

Balkan countries co-operating to stop weapons trafficking

New initiatives are in place to slow the flow of illegal weapons.

Balkan countries are co-operating to slow weapons trafficking as the region becomes a final destination for illegal weapons in addition to being a transit route to European and other markets, experts said.

Francis on June 21 issued the strongest attack on organised crime groups by a pontiff in two decades, accusing them of practicing the "the adoration of evil" and saying mafiosi are excommunicated. 

It was the first time a pope had used the word excommunication - a total cutoff from the Church - in direct reference to members of organised crime. 

The bodies of 31 people, some mutilated, have been exhumed from a mass grave in Veracruz, a stronghold of the Zetas, one of Mexico's most bloodthirsty cartels, a military official said.
      
The bodies were of 24 men and seven women, the official said, raising a toll of 28 given earlier by prosecutors.
      

By Nikos Xydakis

The conquest of Mosul by Sunni Islamist militants this week and the seizure of the Kirkuk oil hub by Kurdish forces show that Iraq is heading toward a breakup and that the borders of the Middle East country will sooner or later be redrawn. However, before such a breakup becomes reality, we may see the broader region dragged into the fighting.

Four police officers are among the 22 suspected members of a major migrant smuggling racket arrested this week, a police spokesman said on Friday.

The officers were based in the northern region of Evros with the remainder operating in Evros, Athens and Thessaloniki, the spokesman, Christos Parthenis, said.

BELGRADE, NOVI SAD - The Serbian police have continued their operation against financial crime, which is coordinated with the Office of the Prosecutor for Organised Crime, and arrested 17 people in Novi Sad, the province of Vojvodina, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

Gheorgui 'Mitsubishi' Martov, the alleged boss of an organized crime group charged with credit card fraud and money laundering in Chicago has ties to organized crime in Bulgaria.

This claim emerged in a recent US court filing, according to the Chicago Sun.

Bulgaria will cooperate with China in the prevention of and fight against crime, after a draft agreement between the two countries' governments has been approved, Wednesday.

Montenegrin PM vows to "deal with media mafia"

PODGORICA -- Montenegrin PM Milo Đukanović has denied his involvement in an alleged corruption case related to the privatization of the country's telecommunications company.

He at the same time said he would "deal with all kinds of mafia, including the media mafia."

Prosecutor: Šarić will enter his plea on Monday

BELGRADE -- Prosecutor for Organized Crime Miljko Radisavljević say Darko Šarić's next appearance before the Special Court will be on March 24, when he will enter his plea.