Suspected drug boss shows up in court, pleads "not guilty"

Suspected drug boss shows up in court, pleads "not guilty"

The suspected drug boss who spent several years on the run and was arrested last week thus took part in the continuation of the trial, launched against him and members of his criminal group in absentia. They are charged with smuggling several tons of cocaine from Latin America to western Europe in 2008 and 2009.

"I consider the indictment to be false, it is all a smokescreen of the former regime to obscure their own thieving. I did nothing to this country, I never hurt a fly, so I am puzzled by this harangue. I have been meeting with and collaborating with influential people who hold positions and with the rich, they are over there, I am here. Everything's like in American movies when one get set up, but I hope that the film will end and that I will prove that I am innocent," Šarić said as he addressed the court.

He blamed what he referred to as "the former regime" one more time, when he said that the prosecutor was "pretending to be Sherlock Holmes," while "the former regime had set him up."

Asked by the judge about his previous convictions and his property, Šarić said that he was never convicted before, and that he "no longer owns anything." Asked how he managed to support himself, Šarić said that "the state now supports him" and wished to "on that note, praise the prison cook."

He then told the court that he was a Serbian citizen, and also gained Slovak citizenship five years ago - but was not sure "if he still had it."

In addition to Šarić, one of his co-defendants and associates on Monday appeared before the court for the first time - Nikola Dimitrijević, who was set free on bail after depositing EUR 200,000, and had previously been a fugitive.

The case is comprised of a total of six merged indictments against 39 members of Šarić's group. However, beside Šarić and Dimitrijević, only 12 are appearing in the courtroom today, as 15 others are still on the run, nine pleaded guilty, and three were given the status of cooperating witnesses.

Šarić also faces a second process on charges of laundering the money he gained by drug trafficking. The prosecution believes that this money was injected into legal channels of the Serbian economy during privatizations. In this case, his co-defendants are mostly businessmen and lawyers.

Serbian authorities during the past four years seized a number of properties, luxury villas, houses, apartments, stores, agricultural estates, companies, hotels, cars, and accompanying inventory from Šarić and persons associated with him.

Šarić - a Montenegrin who became a Serbian citizen in the mid-2000 - was often described as "the most wanted drug boss," and was a fugitive since October 2009, when an international police operation, dubbed Balkan Warrior, took place.

A year later his brother Duško Šarić was arrested in Montenegro on charges of cocaine trafficking and money laundering.

Despite all the indictments, the investigation into this case continues - particularly in view of alleged ties the crime gang had with state structures in Serbia.