Former JSO unit member suspected in triple murder case

Former JSO unit member suspected in triple murder case

The suspect, a 38-year-old man with initials B.S., was arrested this week, 15 years after the murder in Belgrade of Nenad Bukinac, his wife Pinalopi Papanaku, and Base International company's secretary Sladjana Jevtic.

The three victims were murdered on May 12, 2000, in the premises of this footwear import and export wholesale company owned by the couple.

A source close to the investigation said it was still unknown why the three victims were murdered, and that "it will soon be determined whether robbery was the motive, or if the murders were contract killings."

The same source said that the investigation was stalled for years but that new material evidence came to light that helped identify the perpetrator, who used a Heckler to shoot and kill his victims.

At the time of the murder, B.S. was only 23 years old. Soon after the crime was committed, he joined the JSO and remained there until the unit was disbanded in 2003.

After that, writes the daily, he turned to crime, and was arrested in 2006 for robbery - a case involving two other perpetrators and the theft of EUR 90,000 from three bank offices.

During the arrest the police recovered four pistols - three taken from security personnel of the banks, and a Beretta.

B.S. was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison, while the police "believe he continued with his old business after he was released from jail." The police are now "working to determine which crimes he took part in."