Serbia charges 10 for smuggling Chinese

BELGRADE, Serbia, July 2 (UPI) -- Belgrade prosecutors charged 10 people on suspicion of smuggling Chinese nationals from Serbia to Greece, and other European Union countries, officials said.

The Serbian special prosecutors' office for organized crime lodged an indictment at a Belgrade court saying the group of 10 that included Serbians and Chinese were arranging illegal border crossings from Dec. 13, 2008 to March 26 this year, the Serbian news agency Tanjug said Thursday.

The 10 suspects have been detained since their arrest in March.

Chinese illegal migrants had to pay $1,900 to $2,100 each for their transfer from Belgrade, via Macedonia, to Thessaloniki, Greece, and further on to Western Europe.