GROUP OF WOULD-BE ASSASSINS ARRESTED IN BELGRADE

BELGRADE, Oct 30 (Hina) - In the past two days the police in Belgrade and its surroundings, arrested 16 people who were planning to assassinate public political figures. The aim of the arrested group was to destabilise the government and cause chaos in the country, Serb police chiefs told journalists on Wednesday. #L# The director of the Security-Intelligence Agency, Andrej Savic, said that a list of public figures and politicians who were potential targets were a Yugoslav Vice Premier, Miroljub Labus, and an assassination was being prepared on Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic and the president of the DOS parliamentary bench, Cedomir Jovanovic, as well as Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj and former Serbian secret service chief Jovica Stanisic. However, the list of 'potential targets', Savic said, has not been concluded and further investigation will produce a final list of names. Amongst those arrested were Nikola Maljkovic, accused of murdering police general Bosko Buha, killed in July this year in front of the "Jugoslavija" hotel in Zemun. Police Minister Dusan Mihajlovic stated that the murder of General Buha was a clearly criminal and terrorist act, and added that it had no political motive. The search for Zeljko Maksimovic Mak, who is believed to have contracted this killing, is going on. The police confirmed that one of the sixteen arrested since Sunday, Belgrade artist Dragan Malesevic Tapi had passed away from a heart attack in Belgrade jail last night. He had been taken into custody suspected of liaison with the prime suspect - Maksimovic - who is still on the run. Maksimovic was a close associate of the late mobster, Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan. He also killed a policeman in 1995 in Belgrade but was acquitted by the court because the court established that the killing was committed in self-defence. (hina) sp sb