Saric cannot be protected witness

BELGRADE - Drug lord Darko Saric cannot be given the status of protected witness, Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday, adding that a task force within the Security Information Agency (BIA) that worked on locating and arresting Saric deserves the most credit for his arrest following an unconditional surrender.

He said that on February 24 Saric's attorney offered the drug lord's unconditional surrender to the Serbian authorities.

"We accepted that for several reasons - to avert delays resulting from extradition procedures and to avoid any kind of bloodshed," Vucic said.

At an extraordinary government session following Saric's arrest, Vucic said that the drug lord cannot be given the status of protected witness having been charged with organising a criminal group.

The task force within the BIA that worked on locating and arresting him used the most complex methods and instruments in its efforts, including 270 days of covert following in the country and abroad and constant video surveillance of buildings throughout the period, Vucic said.

"Due to the nature of the work we cannot say how many buildings were under surveillance. GPS devices were used on 20 buildings and 15 people had their communications tracked, which totals 75 measures, some of which we cannot speak about," Vucic said.

Vucic said that Saric sole condition was to be allowed a 30-minute meeting with his son, daughter and wife, which took place in the international free zone at the Podgorica airport.

Saric was subsequently put under the control of the Department for Search and taken to the Special Court.

The most important thing is that Saric is in the detention unit, Vucic said, adding...