Serbian President Alexandar Vucic was in danger of being assassinated during a ceremony to unveil a monument to the country's founder Stefan Nemanja on 27 January, Chief of the country's Criminal Police Bogdan Pušić revealed.
"Over 859 special task force officers were on high alert during the unveiling of the monument to Stefan Nemanja since intelligence had been received saying that an assassination attempt on the president had been prepared," Pušić told Pink TV.
Serbia's Internal Affairs Minister Aleksandar Vulin earlier said that officers had seized a sniper rifle from a criminal group which intended to use the weapon to kill the president.
Vulin added that President Vucic's recently "declared a war on organised crime" had put him in the crosshairs of criminals.
On 4 February, the Serbian police and the Security Information Agency detained members of a large criminal group suspected of having links to Montenegrin mafia.