North Macedonian Arrested in Priboj, Suspected Hitman
Serbian police arrested a North Macedonian national in Priboj suspected of entering the country as a paid contract killer. The target of the planned hit remains unknown.
Officers from Serbia’s Interior Ministry arrested a North Macedonian national in Priboj on suspicion that he had entered Serbia as a hired hitman for a contract killing. The operation followed intelligence that he was in the area, after which a heavy police presence sealed off part of the town.
According to available information, the suspect has been ordered held for up to 48 hours. Once that period expires, he will be handed over to the competent prosecutor’s office along with a criminal complaint, and prosecutors will decide how the case proceeds from there.
Who was the target?
It is not yet known who was meant to be the target of the planned assassination in Priboj, nor whether the attack was about to be carried out at the moment of the arrest. According to police sources, the investigation is focused on establishing the identity of the person who was to be targeted, as well as uncovering the locations and individuals who provided the suspect with logistical support after he crossed the border.
The exact amount the suspect allegedly received for carrying out the killing is also unknown. Sources close to the investigation say it was a substantial sum, reportedly paid to him in advance. Authorities still need to determine who hired him for the hit.
Investigators say the man has previously come up in police records as someone reportedly working for the Kavac clan, one of two rival factions that emerged after the old Kotor clan split. There has been no official confirmation of that connection from the relevant institutions; it remains an operational lead from the investigation.
Link to the attempted murder of Marko Ljubisa “Kan”
The case is being connected to an earlier attempted murder of Budva resident Marko Ljubisa, known as Kan, which took place on August 7 last year at a hotel pool in Przno, near Budva. Montenegrin investigators had charged Andrej Tanaskovski (19), also a North Macedonian national, over that attack, and an international arrest warrant had been issued for him afterward. Tanaskovski was arrested in Niksic after more than a year on the run.
Whether there is any connection between the man arrested in Priboj and the earlier attempt on Marko Ljubisa’s life has not been officially confirmed. Some of the outlets that reported the Priboj arrest have drawn a parallel between the two cases because of the suspects’ shared nationality and similar modus operandi, but the relevant institutions have neither confirmed nor denied that link.
The feud between the Kavac and Skaljari clans has been running for several years and has claimed multiple lives across the territory of the former Yugoslavia, from Serbia and Montenegro to Western European cities where members of both clans previously lived as fugitives. Serbian and Montenegrin institutions periodically exchange operational data on the movements of individuals tied to both clans, which, according to sources close to the investigation, also contributed to this arrest.
What happens next in the investigation
Once the detention period expires and a criminal complaint is filed, the prosecutor’s office will decide on further proceedings against the suspect, including a possible request for pretrial detention. The investigation remains open on the questions of who ordered the hit, who the intended target was, and who provided the suspect with housing and logistics from the moment he entered the country until his arrest.
Until the proceedings are legally concluded, the suspect is presumed innocent under legal standards, and the claims about his ties to the Kavac clan and the earlier case in Montenegro remain police operational information, not established fact. The outlet will follow the investigation and report further details once authorities officially confirm them.
