Priority areas of law enforcement

Serbian law enforcement authorities have prioritised fighting drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime during the late 2000s.

The Kosovo province is a hotbed for crime due to lack of police control and criminal domination of the streets. Albanian mafia and criminals are everywhere in Kosovo and there is lawlessness in the province. However it should be noted that the province is under UNMIK control and not under Serbian police jurisdiction according to UNSCR 1244.

Serbian mafia

Serbian Organized Crime or Naša Stvar ("Our Thing") are various criminal organizations based in Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 or composed of ethnic Serbs

Serbs

The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

. Serbian criminals are active in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU) countries. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, protection racket

Protection racket

A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...

, illegal gambling, jewelry and gems theft, bodyguarding, and contract killing

Contract killing

Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...

. The Mafia is composed of several major organized groups, which in turn have wider networks throughout primarily Europe.

The Yugoslav Wars

Yugoslav wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...

 prompted criminals a "way out" of economic disaster during the international imposed sanctions against Serbia. Serbian criminals have been recruited to state security forces, a notable example is Legija, a commander in the Arkan's Tigers which after the war was re-labeled as the JSO (Red Berets), he planned the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.