International drug-trafficker Sreten Jocic was released on a bail of EUR 300,000.

Jocic will be able to carry on with his defence outside of custody, according to a statement from the court. Sreten Jocic, known as "Joca Amsterdam," was serving his prison for ordering the murder of Goran Marjanovic.

He was captured in Bulgaria and extradited at the request of the Dutch authorities, who suspected him of plotting an assassination against a Dutch prosecutor. Due to lack of irrefutable evidence, the Netherlands agreed to hand the suspected mobster over to Serbia.

There were earlier reports that Jocic is likely to return to Bulgaria to control the heroin channels from the Middle East to Western Europe once he is released from prison.

His name has been linked to the murders of some of Bulgaria's underworld bosses - Poli Pantev was killed in March 2001 in Aruba, and Ivan Todorov - Doctora, shot dead in February in downtown Sofia.

Jocic is also said to be behind the planned assassination of Bulgaria's ex organized crime combater now Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov, which was revealed in February 2008.

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