Weapons Cache Found in Belgrade's Cukarica, Man Arrested
Police searched an apartment and outbuildings in Belgrade's Cukarica district and seized a pistol, two automatic rifle magazines and a homemade firearm. The suspect faces up to 48 hours in custody.
Police arrested M. Dj. (born 1962) on suspicion of illegally holding weapons in Cukarica, the Ministry of Interior (MUP) announced on August 11. Searches were carried out at the suspect’s apartment and other premises he uses in the Cukarica municipality, on the order of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. Officers removed five pieces of weaponry and more than 150 rounds of ammunition from those premises.
The arrest was carried out by the Criminal Police Directorate and the Service for Combating Organized Crime, working alongside officers from the Special Operations Unit and the Cukarica police station. The suspect is charged with illegal possession and carrying of firearms, ammunition and explosive materials.
What the search turned up
The inventory of seized items is detailed, and police released it in full:
- two magazines for an automatic rifle, holding a combined 66 rounds of ammunition
- one pistol with 90 rounds of ammunition
- one homemade firearm, a so called kratez (an improvised, handmade weapon), plus 11 cartridges for a hunting rifle
- one air rifle
Ammunition from all three finds adds up to 167 rounds. The kratez is an improvised, handmade firearm with no factory serial number and no record in any registry. The police statement did not mention an actual automatic rifle itself, only the two magazines and the ammunition meant for one.
What happens after the 48 hour hold
The suspect has been ordered held for up to 48 hours. Within that window he will be brought before the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, which will decide how the case proceeds. Until a final verdict, M. Dj. is presumed innocent.
Police did not say in their statement where the weapons came from, whether any of them had ever been registered, or whether the suspect had appeared in earlier proceedings. Nor did they disclose whether the search followed a tip from residents or came out of investigative police work. Details like these are typically withheld at this stage.
A second case, over stolen electricity
At the same address, workers from Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Serbia’s state power utility, found unauthorized use of electricity. The company will file a separate report against the same man over that finding, independent of the criminal case being handled by the prosecutor’s office.
These are two distinct cases arising from a single visit to the property. One runs through the police and the prosecutor’s office, the other through Elektroprivreda Srbije, and the outcome of one has no bearing on the other.
Electricity theft is typically uncovered exactly this way, when people who did not come to read a meter end up inside a property for another reason. The report EPS says it will file follows its own track and does not depend on how the weapons case is resolved.
How much unregistered weaponry is out there
The Ministry of Interior regularly publishes individual statements about searches that turn up pistols, rifles and ammunition without a permit in apartments, garages and outbuildings. Most of those statements describe one or two pieces of weaponry.
This find is larger than that average. Along with the pistol and hunting ammunition, it includes two magazines for an automatic rifle, and automatic weapons are exactly what a civilian in Serbia cannot legally hold under any type of permit provided for in the Law on Weapons and Ammunition.
