ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The man the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) suspects organised the kidnapping of retired General Vladimir Zagorec's underage son has, according to police data, not fled
Croatia, police chief Ivan Franjic said on Thursday.
ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The man the Office for the Prevention of
Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) suspects organised the
kidnapping of retired General Vladimir Zagorec's underage son has,
according to police data, not fled Croatia, police chief Ivan Franjic
said on Thursday.#L#
Police have no information to the effect that the main suspect, Ivan
Matekovic, has fled abroad and are looking for him in Croatia, Franjic
said at the first news conference of the interior minister's cabinet.
Police are intensively looking for Matekovic and his two brothers
Libero and Nikola, who are also at large, Franjic said, declining to
go into greater detail due to the ongoing investigation.
Like Minister Marijan Mlinaric, Franjic said all relevant Interior
Ministry services would investigate if information had been leaked in
the Zagorec abduction case.
Responding to a question from the media, the two said they were not
familiar with cases of blackmailing of other wealthy citizens.
Police and USKOK said yesterday nine persons, of whom three at large,
were suspected of last week's kidnapping of Zagorec's son, and
confirmed the kidnappers were paid 750,000 euros which were not found
when six suspects were arrested.
After Matekovic, the other main suspect is Novica Petrac, who
allegedly ran the group which kidnapped Zagorec's son.
An investigation of the nine-member group was launched yesterday. The
six arrested were placed in one month's detention.
(Hina) ha sb