Heavy Serbian security forces have stormed a Belgrade house belonging to the widow of slain paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, in further efforts to track down the killers of prime minister Zoran Djindjic.
Anti-terrorist units of the paramilitary police and special police forces surrounded the house of Arkan's widow Svetlana Raznatovic around 7.40 a.m. (6.40 a.m. Irish time), Beta news agency reported.
They detained an as-yet unknown number of personal security deployed in and around the house, located in the upscale Belgrade suburb Dedinje.
The immense estate belonging to Arkan, who is still considered by many as a national hero, and his folk singer widow was surrounded by some 50 officers armed with assault rifles.
This weekend, Belgrade daily Politikareported that Raznatovic may have been among celebrities suspected of having provided shelter to some of the main suspects in the assassination of Djindjic last Wednesday.
Since Arkan's murder in January 2000 in a posh Belgrade hotel, his widow, known by her nickname Ceca, has reportedly kept links with former members of his paramilitary unit Tigers, who have been blamed for numerous atrocities committed during the Balkans wars of the 1990s.
The main suspect in Djindjic's shooting - former special police chief Milorad Lukovic - had served with Arkan's Tigers before joining state security forces.
AFP