MINORS MURDER TAXI DRIVER FOR HEROIN MONEY

( Editorial: --> 9955 ) ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - The Zagreb police on Friday apprehended two minors suspected of having killed a taxi driver in January this year. The police think it was their intention to kill the taxi driver and take his money in order to buy heroin. The two girls, T.C. (15) and P.K. (16) from Zagreb, entered Zlatko Popovic's taxi at 22.30 hours on 31 January and requested a drive to the "Planet" discotheque. When they got to the disco, the girls told the driver to continue driving. T.C., who was sitting behind the driver, pulled out a "Smith & Wesson" Magnum 357 from her purse and shot Popovic in the head at point blank range. The car crashed into a light pole and the girls climbed out of the vehicle, without taking the money, crime division commissioner, Zeljko Pul said. The two girls then walked towards the main road and discarded the gun in some bushes. They went to the Zagreb suburb of Zapresic via public transportation. According to the girls' affidavits, they had tried out the gun in T.C.'s flat before the incident. The same day, T.C's mother reported the gun, for which she has a license, missing, as well as some jewellery and her daughter. After the murder the two minors hid in a friend's flat in Zapresic. Commissioner Pul said the girls had been apprehended thanks to the officers of the 11th police precinct who gathered the basic information about the incident. This is the second recent killing of a taxi driver in Zagreb with drugs as the motive. (hina) lm jn 061605 MET feb 98