David Banjac, alias David Pavlović from Banja Luka, was arrested on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol in Podgorica for armed robbery for which he was recently acquitted, it was confirmed to the Banja Luka media outlet ATV.
Banjac and six other people were acquitted on February 25 of charges for the murder of Ljubiša Mrdak and the robbery of the post office in Nikšić on October 20, 2021.
ATV writes that the police state that the Directorate for Serious and Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Republika Srpska is actively searching for Banjac for aggravated murder, which, as ATV has learned, also relates to a robbery in Nikšić.
"An international red notice was issued for the arrested person in 2021 for the criminal offense of armed robbery, and a search warrant was issued for the criminal offense of aggravated murder. After the arrest, DB was handed over to police officers from the Directorate for Organized and Serious Crime," the Banja Luka Police Department (PU) announced.
Arrest warrant active despite acquittal
Banjac was part of a group that was acquitted in Montenegro of charges for a bloody robbery in Nikšić when security guard Ljubiša Mrdak was killed, ATV reports.
The robbery took place on October 20, 2020, and 423.000 euros were stolen.
After his arrest, Banjac will be handed over to the court, which will decide on further actions in this case.
Mitar Knežević from Nikšić, Stojan Albijanić, Nemanja Miljković, Petar Zolak, Srđan Svjetlanović, David Banjac and Stefan Regojević from Banja Luka were charged with the murder of a mobster and the robbery of the post office in Nikšić.
According to the indictment, the defendants stole the money intended for the payment of pensions from the late Ljubiša Mrdak, Dragiša Dendić and Igor Ivanović at gunpoint, following a prior agreement and an elaborate plan, and one person was killed. Masked bandits stole 423.000 euros from security guards at gunpoint.
What did the indictment say?
The indictment states that, according to a pre-determined plan, the accused Miljković and the accused Svjetlanović rented two apartments in Nikšić in which they hid before and after the robbery of the Post Office. From the rented apartment on Vuka Karadžića Street, the accused had a view of the parking lot where the money transfer vehicle, a Volkswagen Transporter with Podgorica plates, was located, the indictment states.
The indictment states that on September 11, at the order of the defendant Mitar Knežević, Albijanic, together with another unknown person from Bosnia and Herzegovina, drove a "Nissan Qashqai" jeep across the border into Montenegro, which an unknown group had previously stolen in Derventa and put false license plates on. The jeep was taken over by Knežević, who hid it until the day of the armed robbery. During that period, Petar Zolak and David Banjac entered Montenegro in a "Citroen Cactus" through the Sitnica border crossing. After they reached the ferry, Stefan Regojević was waiting for them there.
In the evening, the accused Zolak began to observe the location of the planned robbery as well as the route along which he was to flee after the robbery, together with Nemanja Miljković, Svjetlanović and Banjac. According to the pre-determined plan, on October 20, at around nine o'clock, the accused were waiting for security workers in a jeep. When the van intended for transporting money and valuables approached behind the post office building, the armed attackers jumped out of the jeep and quickly headed towards the back door of the vehicle. Realizing that it was a robbery, Mrdak tried to resist, but then the robbers fired several shots, one of which hit Mrdak in the chest.
The robbers beat his other two colleagues with rifle butts, sprayed them with pepper spray, transferred the money to their vehicle and fled at lightning speed. Shortly afterwards, police officers found a destroyed jeep used by the perpetrators in the Grebovice neighborhood, the indictment states.
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