Though not common, vehicle smuggling across Serbia's border crossings is not unheard of. Most often, these are luxury vehicles of significant value. The methods employed for smuggling these vehicles can vary greatly, utilising diverse and innovative techniques for their illicit activities.
To safeguard border crossings from such criminal activities, twenty police officers underwent a four-day training session titled "Detecting Smuggled Vehicles in the Integrated Border Management System" from April 15th to 19th, 2024. This training was organised as part of the "EU Support for Efficient Border Management" project, funded by the European Union.
The primary aim of the training was to enhance the capacity of border police to reduce the number of smuggled vehicles, with the ultimate goal of eliminating this issue entirely.
Throughout the four-day training and practical work at the Vatin border crossing (the crossing towards Romania), participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with indicators and signs of suspicion regarding vehicle authenticity, document forgery, vehicle inspection and search databases, theft modalities, and modern OBD devices providing diagnostic data about the vehicles themselves.
As a practical part of the training, participants also had the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained to real-life vehicle inspections at the Vatin border crossing. According to their feedback, the training was highly beneficial for their daily work, offering abundant practical examples from real-world situations.