Dismissed police inspectors get elite security detail

Lawyer Zdenko Tomanovic said that his clients Inspectors Slobodan Milenkovic and Dusan Mitic were being guarded by troopers from the elite Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ).

The two inspectors headed the investigation into the Jovanjica marijuana farm whose owner Predrag Koluvija is alleged to have close links to top state officials, allegedly including President Aleksandar Vucic and his close associates. They are both due to testify at the trial. They got a security detail after they learned that a drug trafficking group had agreed to kill them.

Milenkovic and Mitic were initially given a security detail from the Police Unit Securing People and Buildings (JZO) but they refused that because that unit’s commander Marko Kricak is close to the police top brass and Internal Affairs Minister Bratislav Gasic.

N1 has been told that Milenkovic will not testify on Wednesday due to health problems but that the court will hear testimony from Inspector Milan Isakov who was with Milenkovic when he pulled over Koluvija for speeding. Koluvija introduced himself as a fellow policeman and showed a fake badge on November 13, 2019. Isakov was arrested in October 2022 and spent 30 days in jail on suspicion of mistreating two people. Media reports at the time said that the top ranks of the police had been informed that reasons were being sought to arrest at least a few of Milekovic’s subordinates.