THE ROLE OF THE CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUG-TRAFFICKING

Abstract

An unauthorized production and putting into circulation of narcotics is one of the biggest scourges of modern time. This form of crime has outgrown the national frameworks long ago and has become an international problem. Republic of Serbia, because of its geographic location, is an important transit route for drugs traveling to Western European countries. The fight against this form of now already organised and international crime requires commitment and coordinated action of all range of organs of State authority. One of the state authority organs that has serious capacity to combat this form of crime is the Customs Administration. Within its Centre for control of application of customs legislation there is a Department for combating drug-trafficking. Results of the Department for combating drug-trafficking are visible and they exist, but Cus-toms Administration, with all its organizational units, has larger and underused potential for detecting and combating the most serious forms of crime, particularly smuggling.