Alleged Balkan drug lord Sreten Josic has been reported Friday by the Serbian Press to have planned the assassination of Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic.

Josic, also known as Joca Amsterdam, was detained at the end of April on charges of being an accomplice in the murder of the owner of the Croatian magazine "National" Ivo Pukanic.

Under the newly alleged assassination plan, bombers were to target Malovic when she left a maternity home in January, as the security at that time was said to be less vigilant. Malovic is allegedly a target as she affected the interests of the Serbian underworld with a proposal to adopt a law on confiscation of assets.

Several mafia clans in Serbia are reportedly preparing to murder Malovic, as she has thrown the gauntlet down by organizing better contacts with neighboring countries in combating crime. The clans have also been frustrated by her plan to sack judges and prosecutors who had links with the underworld.

Josic will remain behind bars for another month after on September 26 the Supreme Court in Serbia refused him bail.

Serbian police reportedly expect his arrest to lead to clues related to the murders of a number of mafia bosses, who were important players in cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe.

Most of them are believed to be Bulgarian underworld lords, who were Josic's partners in the supply and distribution of cocaine.

Josic has been linked to the assassinations of Poli Pantev, who was killed in March 2001 in Aruba, Konstantin Dimitrov a.k.a. Samokovetsa, shot dead in broad daylight in Amsterdam in December 2003 and Ivan Todorov - Doctora, who found his death in February 2006 in downtown Sofia.

At the beginning of April Sreten Josic made headlines in Bulgaria, telling a Belgrade court he enjoyed the protection of high-ranking officials here, citing the names of the then Interior Chief Secretary Boyko Borisov, who was later elected Sofia mayor and prime minister of the country, and Nikolay Gigov, owner of Lokomotiv football club.

Borisov vehemently denied the allegations, accusing the former ruling three-party coalition of crafting a long-term strategy to discredit him.