Two more charged over grenade thrown at Zemun gym
Belgrade prosecutors widened the inquiry into a hand grenade thrown at a Zemun fitness club to two more suspects after a second M-75 grenade was found in a house in Grocka.
- Belgrade prosecutors widened the inquiry to two more suspects, identified by the initials U. S. (22) and M. P. (44).
- The grenade was thrown at a Zemun fitness club on March 23 at around 3:30 a.m.; the club was closed, so no one was hurt.
- A second M-75 hand grenade was found in a family house in Grocka.
- A pre-trial judge ordered both men held in custody for up to 30 days.
Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office has widened its inquiry into a hand grenade thrown at a fitness club in Zemun to two more suspects. They are men identified by the initials U. S. (22) and M. P. (44). Both are accused of unlawful possession of weapons and explosive materials as co-perpetrators.
The investigation had been running against a 19-year-old, S. B., suspected of arming and throwing the grenade. It now also covers two men prosecutors believe supplied the explosive. The trigger for widening the case was a find in a family house in Grocka, where a second M-75 hand grenade was recovered.
A pre-trial judge at the Higher Court in Belgrade ordered both new suspects held for up to 30 days. The measure was justified by the need to prevent a repeat of the offence. The case against U. S. and M. P. is being run separately from earlier arrests in other proceedings.
How the March incident unfolded
The blast happened on March 23 at around 3:30 a.m. The grenade was thrown into the premises of a fitness club in the Zemun municipality. The club was closed at the time, so no one was injured.
Material damage, however, was not avoided. The club premises were damaged, and several cars parked nearby were also hit. Prosecutors opened an inquiry at the time against the young man suspected of throwing the device.
In its statement, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office sets out the chain of how the explosive was acquired and handed over. According to the prosecution’s suspicion, one of the new suspects unlawfully acquired and carried the hand grenade, then passed it to the person who used it.
“U. S. unlawfully acquired and carried an M-75 hand grenade, which he then handed to S. B, who activated it and threw it into the fitness club premises,” the statement from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade reads.
Why does the Grocka find matter for the case?
The discovery of a second M-75 grenade in the Grocka house shifted the inquiry from a single incident to the question of how the explosives were sourced and stored. Prosecutors are now examining who obtained wartime munitions that end up in a peacetime setting, and how.
The Zemun grenade case is separate from earlier arrests tied to Intervention Unit 92 and from the Senjak case. Although all three sit within the field of explosives and organised violence, prosecutors are pursuing them apart. Any joining of the cases would depend on links the inquiry has yet to establish.
Four names are known in this case so far, all marked by initials because no verdict has been reached. The next step is forensic analysis of the recovered explosive and an examination of how the supply chain worked.
How many hand grenades from wartime stockpiles are still circulating across Belgrade’s municipalities, and who is holding them?
