Belgrade: three arrested in Interior Ministry operation in Zvezdara and Vozdovac, heroin and amphetamine seized
Searches of flats turned up around 250 grams of heroin, 65 grams of amphetamine, cocaine and methandienone; a judge is to rule on detention within the next 48 hours.
Members of the Ministry of the Interior, New Belgrade Police Station, arrested three people on 25 May on reasonable suspicion of the offence of unauthorised production and trafficking of narcotic drugs. The operation was carried out on the order of Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and covered two locations in Belgrade, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry.
A search of a flat in Zvezdara, used by L. M. (38), turned up eleven packets containing heroin with a total weight of around eighty grams, seven packets of amphetamine weighing sixty-five grams, a small quantity of cocaine and methandienone, a digital scale for precise weighing and a sum of money. L. M. was arrested at the scene and placed in custody for up to forty-eight hours.
In the continuation of the operation, in Vozdovac, B. S. (51) and E. S. (19) were arrested, and in their flat the police found a packet containing more than 170 grams of heroin, a digital scale and a sum of money. Both suspects are named in a criminal complaint and have been brought within the jurisdiction of Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Interior Ministry says. According to unofficial sources, B. S. has previously been convicted of the same offence.
The quantity of narcotic drugs found at both locations, the prosecutor’s office says, indicates reasonable suspicion that the drugs were being prepared for street-level sale in smaller packets. Under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, the rule is that such quantities are qualified within a range from the basic to the aggravated form of the offence under Article 246 of the Criminal Code, with sentences of three to twenty years in prison.
The searches at both locations, the Interior Ministry says, were preceded by several days of operational work, during which the police recorded contacts between the suspects and several persons suspected of supplying narcotic drugs. The identities of those persons have not been released, and their appearance in the investigation is being kept for the next procedural phase.
What are the typical outcomes of court proceedings in similar cases?
The pre-trial judge of the Higher Court in Belgrade rules within 48 hours of arrest on any decision to impose pre-trial detention. In cases involving three suspects and a larger quantity of narcotic drugs, the standard measure is up to thirty days of detention, which can be extended as necessary.
According to the case-law database, the average sentence in similar proceedings in 2025 was between two and four years of unconditional imprisonment for those handling street-level distribution. For those charged with organising a group or supplying larger quantities, sentences are as a rule at the upper end of the statutory range.
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