SERBIAN MAN MURDERED IN JOBURG: CHARRED RIFLE FOUND IN BURNED CAR
On Tuesday, a motorist believed to be a Serbian man was murdered in Olivedale, Randburg, in what appears to be a hit. His two passengers were also wounded in the incident.
According to several Serbian publications, the man has been identified as Darko Kulic, who was a member of the Serbian Guard.
The incident took place at the intersection of Malibongwe Drive and President Fouche Drive when a white Mercedes-Benz stopped a BMW X5, a passenger got out and opened fire at the SUV.
Later on Tuesday, a BCI Security post on social media stated that its armed response officers had recovered the Mercedes and a weapon that was used in the shooting.
The post said a member of the public reported a burning vehicle in the veld near Christiaan de Wet Road in Allen's Nek to one of its officers, saying:
"Our armed response officer, operations team and K-9 unit went to the location given by the member of the public to investigate. Upon arrival, they found a burnt-out shell of a Mercedes-Benz and found a charred assault rifle lying on the back seat."
The discovery of the charred assault rifle was confirmed on Thursday by Gauteng police spokesperson, Captain Kay Makhubele.
"We are following the leads. There's nothing we can confirm further," he said.
This is the second Serbian man reported killed in Johannesburg in less than three months. On April 25, a Serbian intelligence operative named Milan Djuricic was shot in Strijdom Park, not far from the scene of Tuesday's crime.
11 days later, George Darmanovic, a South African state security contract agent, was shot dead in Belgrade, Serbia. Speaking to News24, a highly-placed source said that Darmanovic had been viewed in intelligence circles as a double agent.
It is alleged that for years leading up to his murder, Darmanovic had been distributing a wide range of information against top politicians and police officers to several influential individuals in South Africa who were able to manipulate the news cycle.
It has come to light that Djuricic was friends with another Serbian, Dobrosav Gavric, the man who was driving underworld kingpin and rumoured National Intelligence Agency operative, Cyril Beeka, at the time of his murder in Cape Town on March 21, 2011.
Serbian authorities were hunting Djuricic and Gavric after they fled Serbia following their convictions for the assassination of that country's most-feared warlord, Zeljko 'Arkan' Raznatovic in 2000.
Gavric was arrested and remains in a South African prison for the Beeka murder and faces 35 years in jail in Serbia for the Raznatovic conviction.
Darmanovic and Beeka operated in the same intelligence circles and, after Beeko was gunned down, Darmanovic was in contact with suspected underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, a Beeka associate who faces an extortion charge connected to a nightclub security takeover in Cape Town.