Nis police arrest man, 22, over gold chain snatchings
Police in Nis say they have solved one robbery and three attacks on women whose necklaces were torn off in the street. A second suspect is still being sought.
A run of gold chain snatchings on the streets of Nis has produced its first arrest. The Nis Police Department said on July 30 that officers had detained A. R., born in 2004, from the city, acting on an order from the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Nis. A second person linked to the same offences is still being hunted.
Serbia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) says the arrest clears up one robbery, two counts of aggravated theft and one attempted aggravated theft. All of the reported offences happened in Nis, within roughly a week, and share the same method: jewellery ripped off the necks of people in the street.
The attack on a 73-year-old man
Police suspect that on July 27 the man and an accomplice came up behind a 73-year-old pedestrian, knocked him to the ground and took the gold chain from his neck.
That incident is treated as robbery rather than theft, and the distinction carries weight. Robbery applies when force is used against a person, or when the victim is threatened with an immediate attack on life or limb, while aggravated theft lacks that element.
What else are the two men accused of?
Over the past week, police believe, the pair used the same method on two women in Nis, tearing the chains from their necks. They tried it on a third woman and failed.
According to the police statement, the reported offences break down like this:
- robbery of a 73-year-old man, committed on July 27
- two counts of aggravated theft, chains torn from the necks of two women in the city
- one attempted aggravated theft, involving a third woman
The statement puts no value on the stolen jewellery and does not say whether any of it has been recovered. It also leaves out whether anyone was injured and gives no exact dates for the attacks on the women, only that they took place in the past week. Whether the series grows is still open, because work on identifying the second man continues.
The accomplice is still at large
The suspect was ordered held for up to 48 hours. Once that period ends he will be brought before the prosecutor’s office together with a criminal complaint.
Police are not releasing his full name, so he is identified by initials while the case remains at the pre-trial stage. He is presumed innocent until a final verdict, and guilt is settled in court, not in a press release.
The second half of the file stays open. The man tied to the same attacks has not been found, which means the run of gold chain snatchings in Nis is not formally closed even with one suspect in custody.
