Budva: Serb (23) From Bor Arrested With Fake Croatian ID

Police in Budva arrested a man who had been posing as a Croatian citizen, and an identity check revealed him to be V. R. (23) from Bor, a Serbian national wanted at home for 27 criminal offenses. The arrest was announced by Montenegro’s Ministry of Interior, whose officers detained the man carrying the fake document along with a second, younger man found in possession of drugs.

It is the second case in a short span in which Montenegrin police in Budva have arrested a Serbian citizen fleeing justice. Srpske.rs recently reported on the arrest of D. Dz. (22), a suspect in a Belgrade murder in the Kumodraz neighborhood, who was caught on September 8 in the same coastal town. That man had tried to shoot Ognjen Kazanegra in a Budva hospitality venue, according to Montenegro’s Police Administration, which named Kazanegra as the target of the attack; Kazanegra overpowered his attacker himself before police arrived. D. Dz. had been on an international wanted list since late June over a June murder at a cafe in Kumodraz. The two cases are unrelated, but together they show that Budva, at least based on its most recent arrests, keeps catching both Belgrade fugitives and others wanted elsewhere in Serbia.

How the fake identity was uncovered

According to the Montenegro Ministry of Interior, officers from the Budva Security Department stopped S. F. (19) from Bijelo Polje along with a person who presented a Croatian identity card issued to M. H. (23). Officers found 11 packets of marijuana in the nineteen year old’s backpack. Montenegrin police say both men tried to flee the moment they were stopped.

A closer check found that the man holding the Croatian document was not actually M. H.: the name and details on the card did not match any record in Croatian databases. Behind the fake identity was V. R. from Bor, listed in Serbian records as a repeat offender across several categories of crime.

What he is suspected of

Based on information held by Serbian authorities, V. R. is suspected of:

• unauthorized production and trafficking of narcotics
• aggravated assault
• violent conduct at a sporting event or public gathering
• causing general danger
• endangering public safety
• robbery
• assault on an official performing official duties

These seven categories are part of the 27 criminal offenses for which Serbia is seeking him. Montenegrin police have additionally charged him with document forgery, since he used the fake Croatian ID to conceal his real identity during the check.

Drugs found in a rented apartment

Beyond the arrest itself, Montenegrin police also searched a rented apartment in Prijevor where V. R. had been staying. There they found 62 grams of marijuana, 44 grams of hashish and 54 ecstasy tablets stamped “Super Mario,” along with a scale and drug packaging equipment. The apartment search suggests the suspect was not merely hiding from charges already filed in Serbia but had continued dealing drugs in Montenegro as well, this time under a forged identity meant to help him avoid recognition.

Montenegro’s Ministry of Interior has not yet said whether extradition proceedings against V. R. have been opened, or when he will appear before a prosecutor in Montenegro. S. F., the young man from Bijelo Polje found with marijuana in his backpack, is being treated as a separate case, suspected of a drug related offense.