BELGRADE- The First Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vučić, has stated that 500 persons are going to be processed in operations Grom and Grom 1 (eng. Thunder and Thunder 1) and warned drug dealers that hell is just about to ensue for them since campaigns against them are not going to stop until the society is cured of this plague.

At the press conference held at the Government of Serbia, Vučić has released the information that this morning from 4.30 AM 128 individuals have been taken into custody as a part of the Grom 1 operation, a campaign of arrests of drug dealers.

Vučić has pointed out that certain serial killers have been arrested during this morning’s operation, i.e. persons who are responsible for several murders, robberies, as well as that some of the arrested individuals have been detained for illegal possession of weapons.

The Police Chief, Milorad Veljović, has stated that four foreign citizens have been arrested in the Grom operation for robbery committed in the territory of Serbia.

When speaking on the co-operation of the police, Prosecutor’s Office and others during the operations for combating corruption and crime, Veljović was adamant that "there is no such task that we cannot complete with joint forces” and added this fight would not end with the operation Grom.

The Republic Public Prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, released a statement that in the today’s Grom 1 operation "serious drug dealers had been arrested who were at the top of the pyramid” and insisted that no one is stronger than the state authorities.

Source: Tanjug (http://tanjug.rs/videodet.aspx?galID=114800&videoID=661559);

"For legal reasons we are unable to release the names of the arrested individuals but I can confirm that this time the state authorities are targeting serious drug dealers who are at the very top of the pyramid”, Dolovac stated and underlined that today’s operation is not the end of the fight against drug gangs.

"As much as we may think that they are stronger than the state authorities, this is not true, they are not stronger”, Dolovac, who has commended all of the police officers and prosecutors who are conducting this operation, says and adds that the Security Services Co-ordination Bureau has been supporting them.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, Ivica Dačić, said that the operation "Grom 1” targeted primarily the internal dealer network which is activated after the drugs have already entered our country.

"In this particular case the focus of the operation was not on the drug channels, how the drugs reach Macedonia or Serbia, but the point was to strike at the dealer network”, Dačić said.

In today’s simultaneous operation Grom 1 in the territory of Serbia, a measure of a 48 hour detention has been imposed on 124 suspects, seven individuals have been handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office, nearly 20 kilos of various types of drugs have been seized, as well as more than 50 types of various weapons, six individuals that have been on wanted lists have been located, eight criminal offence cases have been solved.

19,540.02 g of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and amphetamine-type of drugs have been seized, 938 pills of synthetic drugs, 63 packages of heroin, 72 packages of marijuana, one package of hashish, one package of cocaine, four bottles of methadone, MoI of Serbia stated.

16 precise measuring scales, five laboratories for the production of marijuana with 200 stalks and 30 jars with dried marijuana, 31 pistols, 23 rifles without a permit, a pencil-gun, and 3,177 pieces of ammunition are listed in the statement.

The operation, according to the statement, resulted in the seizure of 504 g of plastic explosives, one detonating cap, fuse, one bomb, 74,000 EUR, six high-class cars owned by the drug dealers, three vehicles and two vans with false plates.

According to the statement, 1,165 addresses have been searched, where 1,045 individuals have been found, and it is stressed that against 115 individuals criminal charges are going to be filed in an ordinary procedure at the order of the competent prosecutor’s offices.

In the early hours of the morning, police officers of the Criminal Police Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, Special Anti-Terrorist Unit, Anti-Terrorist Unit, Gendarmerie and 27 Police Departments in co-operation with the competent public prosecutor’s offices, at the request of the Security Services Co-ordination Bureau, have carried out a simultaneous, coordinated central operation Grom 1 in the territory of Serbia.

During the operation Grom, at the beginning of December, against the suspects involved in drug trafficking across the whole territory of Serbia, more than 21 kg of drugs were seized and 124 suspects were taken into custody, out of which 70 were remanded in custody.