Zemun Bunker Hid 20 Grenades and 938 Rounds
Belgrade prosecutors are seeking detention for Miroslav M. of Zemun, whose underground bunker held weapons, explosives and nearly a thousand rounds of ammunition.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade has opened an investigation against Miroslav M. of Zemun, suspected of illegally keeping weapons, ammunition and explosive materials of great destructive power, a category civilians are barred from possessing, in an underground bunker beneath his house. The suspect was questioned and stayed silent throughout, after which prosecutors asked the preliminary proceedings judge at the Higher Court in Belgrade to order his detention.
Police searched the Zemun house where the suspect lives on September 10. Inside a specially built underground bunker, they found a black travel bag wrapped in a black PVC sack. According to the prosecution’s inventory, the bag held an automatic rifle made by Zastava with one matching magazine, a semi-automatic rifle with its factory serial number destroyed, three plastic magazines for the semi-automatic rifle, and 19 boxes of ammunition totaling 938 rounds. The bunker also contained 20 hand grenades of various models.
“The suspect defended himself during questioning by remaining silent, that is, he used his legal right not to present a defense,” the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade said in its statement.
Miroslav M. is charged with the illegal production, possession, carrying and trafficking of weapons and explosive materials under Article 348 of the Criminal Code. Prosecutors justify their detention request by citing the risk that the suspect, if left at liberty, could reoffend within a short period. The decision on detention rests with the preliminary proceedings judge.
Telegraf reports that Miroslav M. is 43 and from Belgrade, while N1 does not mention his age. According to Telegraf, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic also commented on the case, stating that officers from the Criminal Police Directorate found two automatic rifles and 20 hand grenades. The prosecution’s own inventory, by contrast, lists one automatic and one semi-automatic rifle. The discrepancy between the two accounts has not been explained.
The prosecution’s statement was published on September 15. Telegraf carried it around 1 p.m. that same day, and Tanjug followed roughly twenty minutes later. Proceedings against Miroslav M. remain in the pre-indictment investigative phase, and his guilt has not been established pending a final verdict.
