Masked special police forces armed with assault rifles barricaded Papova Street in the Zagreb borough of Knežija, Wednesday. Reports say that several arrests were made in a local café.
‘In question is an [Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime] case file,’ Interior Ministry spokesman Krunoslav Borovec told tportal and announced further arrests, confirming for us that the operation had resulted in arrests.
However, Borovec did not confirm which particular case was at hand, nor did spokesman at the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK), Vuk Durcic. Although the operation in Knežija has ended, the target of the operation is still unknown, although unofficial reports say that organized crime members were targeted.
According to the Vecernji List daily, police made three arrests in the café Meandar. Unofficial reports in the Vecernji say that the arrests may be related to several brutal beatings of public figures in the past few years. Allegedly, the arrests are related to the beatings of Jutarnji List journalist Dusan Miljus and entrepreneur Josip Galinec in 2008 and the 2002 beating of banker Bozo Prka.
For nearly two years, police had offered a reward of 100,000 kuna to any information leading to the arrest of the attackers on Miljus.
The Vecernji further reports that one of the parties arrested was charged in the trial against the alleged Kneija organized crime family nearly a decade ago. According to Croatian Television, the individual in question is former police officer Dorde Vuletic, who has several beatings on his file.
The Zagreb borough of Knezija is an alleged hotspot of the capital’s criminal underground, whose members, according to alleged crime boss Nikica Jelavic, gather in a local café.
