Sreten Josic Masterminded Murders in Bulgaria – Police

Alleged Balkan drug lord Sreten Josic masterminded organized murder in Bulgaria, with his associate Robert Matanic carrying out three contract killings there, according to the Croatian police.

There is firm evidence that Matanic, one of the accused in the murder trial of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, participated in three murders in Bulgaria, media in Zagreb and Belgrade claim on Wednesday.

Croatian authorities possess information that proves that Robert Matanic, together with his associates, carried out murder and kidnapping in Bulgaria and at least one of the murders was organized and paid for by Sreten Josic and his aide Slobodan Durovic.

"The quality of the information which the police has acquired is shocking, while the precision with which the separate murders and kidnappings are described, leads to the conclusion that eyewitnesses are expected to appear by whose testimonies Josic, Durovic and Matanic may face new long-term sentences, writes "Nacional", the Croatian weekly.

The Croatian police intend to send their findings to their Bulgarian counterparts in order to clarify the circumstances surrounding some of the killings in the country.

There are suspicions that in 2005, a few months after he was arrested, Matanic carried out a murder in Pernik, a small town located close to the capital Sofia. Djurovic gave information to Robert Matanic about the victim, his home address, along with his photo. It is, however, supposed that the murder was ordered by Sreten Josic.

The murder is believed to be connected to contraband drug-running, and also settled scores among criminal clans from Pernik and the second-biggest town of Plovdiv. The Plovdiv gang was working for the clan of the famous Bulgarian mobster, Milcho Bonev aka Bay Mile.

Ivo Pukanic, owner and editor-in-chief of the Croatian weekly "Nacional" and the publication's marketing director Niko Franic were killed by a car bomb on October 23 in downtown Zagreb. Croatian authorities say the person behind the assassination had paid EUR 150,000 for the job.

Sreten Josic has been linked to the assassinations of Poli Pantev, who was killed in 2001 in Aruba; Konstantin Dimitrov a.k.a. Samokovetsa, shot dead in broad daylight in Amsterdam in 2003; and Ivan Todorov - Doctora, who met his death in 2006 in downtown Sofia.