17 October 2024 , 21:34
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Serbian police said that in cooperation with the European Union law enforcement, they have arrested four members of a criminal group, including a contract killer involved in a brazen revenge murder in Belgrade in 2021.
According to Europol, the suspected killer, who disguised himself as an elderly man with a silicone mask and a limp, casually passed by the victim before shooting him in the head on the night of January 29, 2021.
The Serbian Interior Ministry also stated that the other arrested suspects, including the ringleader, provided critical logistical support to the killer, who was identified by his initials, M.K.
Europol reported that the entire plot was masterminded by the head of the organized crime group, identified by Serbian police as N. Ž. He is accused of playing a key role in recruiting the contract killer and coordinating every detail of the assassination.
N. Ž. also allegedly organized the killer’s escape plan, recruited two additional suspects to monitor the victim, and secured the firearm used in the murder, which was brought to Serbia specifically for the attack.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić confirmed that the group is suspected of being behind the killing of Zoran Uskoković, also known as Skole Junior.
The breakthrough came after Europol provided crucial intelligence developed from its ongoing efforts to crack encrypted communication platforms frequently used by organized crime networks - in this case the Sky application, according Serbia’s Public Prosecutor for Organized Crime who spoke to local media.
During the police operation, authorities searched several properties linked to the suspects, seizing two handguns and an unspecified quantity of narcotics.
Although Skole Junior had no police record, his father, also named Zoran Uskoković Skole, was a notorious figure in Belgrade’s criminal underworld during the 1990s. He was gunned down in 2000 during a violent gang feud.
It is widely believed that members of the notorious Zemun criminal clan assassinated Skole Senior, holding him responsible for orchestrating the January 2000 murder of Željko Ražnatović Arkan—one of Serbia’s top criminals and a feared Balkan warlord in the 1990s.