MILOSEVIC POLICE 'STASHED DRUGS'

Serbia's interior minister has accused former President Slobodan
Milosevic's secret police of hoarding illicit drugs and carrying out
illegal surveillance of two public figures who were later murdered.

Minister Dusan Mihajlovic told reporters the drugs, worth almost $30m,
had been found in a bank vault belonging to the police service.

The drugs - including 600kg of heroin and smaller amounts of cocaine,
marijuana and other substances, had never been registered by the
police or reported to a court as required by law.

He added four officers were being questioned by a judge and could face
prosecution for spying on public figures and tapping their phones.

The four are said to be close associates of Rade Markovic, the former
secret police chief currently under arrest in connection with an
alleged attempt to murder opposition politician Vuk Draskovic in 1999.
He has denied the allegations.

Confession

One of the public figures the officers are accused of spying on is Mr
Draskovic.

Others include the journalist and Milosevic critic, Slavko Curuvija,
who was murdered in April 1999, and the Serbian warlord Arkan, killed
in January 2000.

The interior minister said evidence of the illegal surveillance and
phone tapping had been destroyed, but the four officers had confessed
and there were many witnesses to their illicit activities.

Mr Markovic would also be charged for illegal surveillance he
said.

Reformers who ousted President Milosevic in October last year have
long accused the state security service of ordering politically
motivated killings and was involved with the criminal underworld.