The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Croat Arrested in Slovenian PM Murder Plot
| 30 November -1 |
Josip Zagajski, 65, a demobilized soldier from the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, was arrested on a train during a routine border check.
When questioned, Zagajski attempted to activate one of the grenades in his possession. According to the 24sata website, the veteran threatened to blow himself and the train up when the police tried to arrest him. Six bombs were found in his possession.
Police said they arrested Zagajski after discovering that Germany, where he served a prison sentence for placing a grenade in front of a building, had banned him from entering the EU. The Croatian daily Jutarnji list wrote that after he was taken to the police station, he tried to detonate a grenade, after which a police search turned up five more grenades in his possession.
The suspect said the “grenades are for Pahor, I am not alone”.
Zagajski told police that several of his companions, also armed, were still on the train. When the train stopped in Ljubljana, Slovenian special police searched the train, but no grenades or other suspects were found.
Slovenian police chief Janko Gorsek was quoted by media as saying that it was likely that the man was going to attempt to set off the five grenades in front of a government building in Ljubljana as Prime Minister Pahor passed by.
The train in question had 105 passengers and was travelling from Belgrade via Zagreb and Ljubljana to Zurich. Zagajski boarded the train in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
According to Slovenia’s 24ur website, Slovenian authorities had a tip-off from the train passengers regarding his plan, including information that Zagajski was mentally unstable.
Last year, Zagajski was deported to Croatia from Germany, where he served an eight-year prison term for attempting to bomb the Turkish consulate in a grenade attack.
Zagajski will spend one month in custody and likely be charged with assaulting a police officer and illegal possession of weapons, while Slovenian authorities are still considering terrorism charges.
Newly elected Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor phoned Pahor, saying that her government "strongly condemns any extremism and violent threats," while Pahor said the arrest was an isolated incident.
Tensions between the two countries have been high since December last year, when Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU negotiations over an ongoing border dispute.
