Zemun clan-related shootings in Sofia

Zemun clan-related shootings in Sofia

According to preliminary information, “while they were leaving the automobile, three masked [men] opened fire,” officials with the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior said.

All four were taken to the hospital. One of the men suffered serious injuries and is in critical condition, the press release said. The other man and the child had arm injuries, while the woman was shot in the leg.

Drugs and three guns were found during a search of the victims’ residences, officials said.

“According to information of the investigators until this moment, there is data that some of the victims are connected with the Zemun clan and the incident from last night is probably a result of an attempt to settle relations between those connected to the Serbian criminal group,” the statement concluded.

The Zemun clan, Serbia's key organized crime network, was targeted by police in 2003 following the assassination of Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

Several prominent clan members were sentenced as accomplices in Đinđić's slaying, for gangland killings of businessmen and other underworld dons, drug smuggling, money laundering and other crimes. Several clan members remain at large.

One of the men shot in Sofia was connected to the Nenad Milenković, who was among the leaders of the Zemun clan, Bulgarian Police Director Velentin Petrov said.

Milenković was arrested in Bulgaria in 2003 and was later extradited to Serbia. Besides connections to a Balkan drug network, Milenković was sought by Interpol in connection with more than 20 murders, according to Bulgarian media reports.

Serbian media described Nenad Milenković was a top lieutenant of Sreten Jocić, who was arrested in Sofia last year on various charges including alleged murders and later extradited to the Netherlands.

Bulgarian police planned to contact international crime-fighting agencies for information connected to the case, officials said.