Belgrade Arrest: SAJ Detains M.S. (30), 30-Day Custody
SAJ and the Criminal Police Directorate arrested the suspect in Belgrade, wanted on two separate warrants. A court in Valjevo ordered up to 30 days in pretrial detention.
Officers from the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) and the Criminal Police Directorate arrested a man in a Belgrade apartment building. The suspect, identified only as M.S., 30, was wanted at the time on two separate warrants, one from Valjevo and one from Belgrade. A pretrial judge at the Valjevo Basic Court ordered him held in custody for up to 30 days. Serbia’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest on August 7, 2026.
The suspect was located in a building in the Belgrade area before officers moved in. The Interior Ministry released footage of the operation along with its statement.
Who took part in the operation
Five police units from two cities took part in the arrest:
- Criminal Police Directorate
- Criminal Intelligence Service
- Criminal Police Directorate of the Belgrade Police Department
- Valjevo Police Department
- Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ)
Deploying SAJ is not standard procedure for an arrest on an outstanding warrant. The unit steps in when police assess that taking a suspect into custody carries risk, and in this case that meant a residential building, an environment that calls for extra caution during the operation.
What crimes was the suspect wanted for?
The Valjevo Police Department’s warrant was issued over the criminal offenses of unlawful deprivation of liberty and abuse and torture.
The second warrant came from the Narcotics Department of the Belgrade Police Department’s Criminal Police Directorate, over the offense of obstructing an official in the performance of official duties.
The suspect therefore faced two separate cases, each handled by a different police department. Neither has so far ended in an indictment made public, so every charge listed here reflects suspicion, not established guilt.
Valjevo court ordered the detention
Although he was arrested in Belgrade, the decision on detention fell to the court in Valjevo. That points to where the case carries more weight: the Valjevo file, built on the charges of unlawful deprivation of liberty and abuse and torture, is more serious than the Belgrade one, and it is the file being pursued further.
Thirty days is the legal maximum a pretrial judge can order at this stage, and it says nothing about the eventual outcome. The suspect remains a suspect until a final verdict is reached.
What the statement shows, and what usually gets lost in coverage like this, is that the man was in two search systems at once, Valjevo’s and Belgrade’s, with two departments hunting him in parallel. When that converges into a single operation, as it did here, it is usually a sign that the location came from intelligence work rather than a routine field check. The Criminal Intelligence Service is, in fact, listed among those who took part.
The next step belongs to the Valjevo prosecutor’s office, which will decide how to frame the indictment on both counts.
