“It’s not mine, I gave the basement to others to use”

deda, Photo: shutterstock

Man Ž. V. (72), in whose basement, in Prosek near Niška Banja, the police found up to 220 kilograms of marijuana, two silenced pistols and 850 packs of cigarettes, said at the hearing with the prosecutor that he knew nothing about the huge amount of drugs and that Basement given to others for their use.

In the town, which has only 25 inhabitants, they suspect that Ž. V. kept and traded drugs, but they say something strange has been happening in their small town in recent months.

As it was learned, the arrested old man said at the hearing that he gave the basement for the use of neighbors and craftsmen who paved the street not far from his house.

According to unofficial information, before being detained for up to 30 days, Ž. V. told the prosecutor that the basement, where a large quantity of narcotics was found, was on the other side of his yard and that it was entered directly from the street. According to him, the patio of his house is on the second street.

– That basement, like you said, is actually under the back of your house. He claimed that no one sleeps in the rooms above the basement, but in the opposite part where there is no basement, says a source familiar with the case.

According to him, the suspect said that he did not question what was found, but noted that “it is not his.”

– He said he doesn’t use that basement and doesn’t go in there, and he doesn’t know whose everything they found was. He said he last went into that basement during the summer of this year. Supposedly, at that time, the residents of the street where the basement exits concreted the street and allowed them to enter the basement, leave cement, tools, machines and other things. He said he didn’t see suspicious things in that basement at the time, ”says the source, adding that the suspect said those works were completed about a month and a half ago, after which the workers stopped using the basement.

The detainee said he did not know if the basement was locked and in what way.

Drugs, Photo: Ministry of the Interior

– He claims that there is no information on who bought the padlock that closed the basement, because he did not have a key or lock at the time he allowed them to use the basement. He said that until then he had closed the basement with a simple cut and wire, and pointed out that since the works were finished he had not entered the basement, nor had he seen suspicious people enter and bring anything – says the interlocutor.

The suspects Ž.V. He also said that he did not have the opportunity to do so, because lately he has not stayed many times in that house because of the obligations he had.

– He said that he did not know the names of the teachers who concreted the street and explained that he does not live there permanently because his address is in Nis, while the neighbors are there permanently – affirms the interlocutor.

Add that Ž. V. to the question of the Deputy Superior Prosecutor in office if he is aware of the amount of narcotics and that cigarettes and weapons have been found and what is the price of all this and if it would be logical for someone to leave his goods of high market value In the basement of another unsupervised person, he said that it was also not clear to him and that he believes that it was something registered and organized, because while the asphalt work was being carried out, many people came, both young people and workers, as well as several trucks.

– He worked for the Electronics Industry until his retirement. His wife died a few months ago, he has a son who probably lived in America, he also has a daughter, grandchildren … The house is old, his father and mother made it. I don’t know, I think he lives here alone, but I’m not sure. He has never been involved in a crime, nor is he capable of doing so. It has nothing to do with it, a million percent, he didn’t do that business. He sold everything he had, and he had a lot, he was from a wealthy family, his father was rich, they had a large property. He always fought against poverty. He would not sell his property to deal with crime, one of the locals said.

He says he saw when the police arrived in town, but it never occurred to him why they were there. However, lately the locals have noticed strange things in the village.

– A lot is happening here. I see vehicles from various registers approaching. They reach a bus highway, on a stretch of dirt road, they stop, as if to make a quick transaction. Two or three vehicles come one after another, make transactions and leave. “Nothing will surprise us and some murder will happen,” he said.