Elek Murder in Surcin: Shooter and Accomplice Arrested

Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecution has announced the arrest of two suspects in the murder of Novica Elek, 45, who was gunned down outside his family home in Surcin on August 29. Until now the public had seen only a photo of the wanted attacker. The prosecution has now laid out the mechanics of the killing for the first time, while the Interior Ministry has released footage of the arrest.

Who is charged with the murder

N.K., 20, is charged with aggravated murder. According to the prosecution, the suspect was masked and lying in wait for the victim.

Wearing a mask, he waited for Novica Elek outside his family home, and when the victim parked his car and got out, he fired several rounds from a handgun in his direction and killed him.

That is how the Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade describes the moment of the killing in its statement. N.K. was arrested three days after the crime, in an apartment in Obrenovac where, according to the tabloid Informer, he had been hiding.

Who is the second suspect

Sources differ on the initials of the second man arrested. The Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade refers to him as B.S. in its statement, while the Interior Ministry names him as S.B., born in 2003, making him 23 years old. He is charged with aiding aggravated murder.

The prosecution says he fitted a GPS tracker to the victim’s car in order to locate him, which made the killing possible. According to the statement, the suspect is being prosecuted for supplying, days in advance, the information on where and when Elek would be.

Both men arrested have been remanded for up to 48 hours, after which they will be brought in for questioning before the Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade.

A third suspect, the prosecution says, is still being sought.

An intensive search is underway for the third suspect.

Who took part in the operation

According to the Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade, the arrests were carried out by the Department for Suppression of Violent and Sexual Crimes, Traffic Offenses, and Human Trafficking, part of the Criminal Police Directorate of the Belgrade Police Department, working with the Special Operations Unit, the Criminal Police Directorate, the Technical Directorate, and the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA).

The Interior Ministry also released a two minute video showing Special Operations Unit officers storming the apartment where the suspect had been hiding.

Escape from Krusevac

According to Informer, N.K. had escaped roughly two months before the murder from the Juvenile Correctional Facility in Krusevac, where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking. The same outlet reports that the suspect had first been arrested as a minor.

The Srpske novine portal published a photo of the wanted attacker after the August 29 murder. With the arrest of the two suspects, the prosecution has for the first time disclosed the course of the investigation, while the search for the third participant, it says, continues.