These specialized training courses took place in November and December 2012 in Belgrade and brought together 20 police officers from the General Administration Police Units from the Sumadija and Nisava districts. In the frame of the multi-year ExB project, the Mission had also supported the MoI over three years in creating a pool of 38 trainers who were able to efficiently transfer their knowledge and skills on fighting THB to other police officers. In order to further enhance continuous training of police officers in fighting THB the Mission implemented two pilot training courses conducted by selected trainers/police officers. The two pilot courses were held between 1-14 December at the training facilities of the MoI in Bezanijska Kosa, Belgrade. In total, 30 police officers from the Border Police Directorate, the Border Police Airport Station and the Police Secretariat Belgrade were trained on the following thematic areas: human rights; integrity and police ethics; trafficking in human beings: the legislative framework and current situation analysis; operative criminal techniques; measures and procedures in collecting valid evidence; interviewing victims/witnesses and interrogating perpetrators; identifying and protecting victims of trafficking; national referral mechanisms and co-operation with nongovernmental organizations. Drug Trafficking In its efforts to develop the capacities of the MoI to detect and raid clandestine laboratories in a professional and safe manner, while securing the required evidence, the Mission, in close co-operation with EUROPOL, helped to build core training capacity by supporting an advanced ToT course on “Dismantling Illicit Laboratories” that was held in the Netherlands from 3-7 September. Five participants from the MoI’s Drugs Smuggling Suppression Department, the Counterterrorist Unit and the National Crime-Technical Centre, were supported by the Mission to complete the ToT course, which was delivered by EUROPOL experts. The successful completion of this course fostered the initiation of procedures within the MoI for establishing a specialized training centre for dismantling clandestine laboratories, the first in the Balkan Region. Furthermore, towards the end of 2012, the Mission provided expert advice and guidance to the MoI’s working group tasked with developing a guidebook on operational procedures for handling clandestine drug production laboratories. The guidebook was envisaged to be finalized in early 2013. These activities were pertinent to the continuous support of the Mission to the Serbian MoI in implementing its National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Fight against Drugs in the Republic of Serbia, as well as building sustainable drug-fighting capacities of the Ministry. On 18-19 October, the Mission also facilitated the participation of one Serbian police expert for drug prevention in the conference “Prevention of Illicit Drug Supply to Youth” in Vienna. The event was organized by the TNTD/SPMU in co-operation with UNODC (see also chapter 2.2) Moreover, whilst fostering the development of the internal capacity of the Serbian police to apply prevention methods in fighting drug abuse, the Mission organized the first “Training Course on Identifying Signs and Symptoms of Drugs’ Abuse” in Belgrade from 5-7 December. The course was conducted by six OSCE certified trainers from the MoI. Divided into two parallel sessions, the training was delivered to a total of 29 participants representing departments for suppression of drug abuse from each police district in Serbia. The main objective of the training course was to improve internal capacity throughout the Ministry for detecting and distinguishing drugs, as well as recognizing signs and symptoms of their abuse. The participants also increased their knowledge on the legislation in this field. The concept of the training was based on Norwegian and Swedish models that the Mission had shared with the Ministry during a ToT Course in late 2010. Consequently, the Mission supported and guided an inter-ministerial working group during the process of adjusting the 92