Serbia jails Balkan human trafficking kingpin

Zarubica had been on the run from the authorities since he was convicted in 2005 for the trafficking and forced prostitution.

BELGRADE, March 12, 2010 (AFP) - Serbian authorities have jailed for four years a man considered the kingpin of human trafficking in the Balkans and already convicted in Serbia and Italy, a justice ministry official said Friday.

"Milivoj Zarubica started serving a four-year jail term in the prison of Nis," the official told AFP, referring to the country's third largest town about 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of the capital Belgrade.

Zarubica had been on the run from the authorities since he was convicted in 2005 for the trafficking and forced prostitution of at least 11 Moldavian women.

He was arrested on Thursday in the southern town of Kursumlija, police said in a separate statement.

In November 2008 an Italian court in Bologna sentenced Zarubica to 17 years in prison for human trafficking and associating with the mafia, the statement said.

According to the justice ministry official, Zarubica could be extradited to Italy, if Rome demanded his extradition, once he served his Serbian jail term.