Serbian police catch hitman behind Belgrade attack in 2021

According to Europol, the suspected killer, who disguised himself as an elderly man wearing a silicone mask and limped, casually walked past the victim on the night of January 29, 2021 before shooting him in the head.

The Serbian Interior Ministry also said that the other arrested suspects, including the ringleader, provided crucial logistical support to the killer, identified by his initials MK

Europol reported that the entire conspiracy was planned by the leader of the organized crime group, known by Serbian police as N. Ž. was identified. He is accused of playing a key role in recruiting the hitman and coordinating all details of the attack.

N. Ž. is also said to have organized the killer’s escape plan, recruited two other suspects to monitor the victim, and recovered 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 murder of Zoran Uskoković, also known as Skole Junior.

The breakthrough came after Europol provided crucial information resulting from its ongoing efforts to crack encrypted communications platforms often used by organized crime networks – in this case the Sky application, according to Serbia’s organized crime prosecutor. who spoke to local media.

During the police operation, the authorities searched several of the suspects’ properties and confiscated two handguns and an unspecified amount 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 in the 1990s. He was shot dead in 2000 during a violent gang feud.

Members of the notorious Zemun crime clan are widely believed to have murdered Skole Senior and blame him for orchestrating the January 2000 murder of Željko Ražnatović Arkan – one of Serbia’s top criminals and feared warlord in the Balkans in the 1990s.