Skopje, 27 May 2025 (MIA) – Following a months-long extensive investigation, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Corruption filed an indictment to the Skopje-based Criminal Court against nine people - members of the "Belanoca-Baron" crime ring. In coordination with law enforcement authorities, extensive and relevant evidence has been provided, on the basis of which the defendants are charged with several serious crimes committed between 2020-2024, including seven murders.

The Prosecutor's Office previously told a press briefing that work on the case dubbed "Bunker" has been underway for more than a year, and it concerns an exceptionally serious crime ring with a serious structure and criminal association that has endangered people's lives through its activities and actions. The Prosecutor's Office points out that this is one of the more serious criminal groups that have been prosecuted so far and is connected to already known criminal groups.

The "Bunker" case includes two subgroups, one of which over four murders, of which two are double murders. The motives are different, but all come from base motives, revenge, struggle for supremacy and threatening a large number of people. The earliest murder dates back to 2014, and the most high-profile murders are the one in the "Shisha Bar" in Skopje's Old Bazaar and the murder in Hanioti, Greece.

The second subgroup involves three separate murders, ordered by a person serving a prison sentence. One is a double murder, regarding which two people are still at large. This group, said the briefing, has committed extortion through intimidation, arson, racketeering, as well as incinerating vehicles. 

The indictment is against nine people, whereas seven people are still at large and the investigation has been discontinued for them. In addition, the investigation has been expanded to include four more people, accessory to murder, and two for a recent murder. 

According to the Prosecutor's Office, in 2020, three prime suspects formed an organized criminal group with the aim of committing serious crimes -  primarily murders and other violent acts. The ring leaders planned and decided who, where, when and how would someone be neutralized, committing the crimes by themselves or by ring members, paying EUR 10,000-25,000 per kill. For the purpose of supporting a radical movement in the country or revenge against persons from an adversarial crime ring, eight people were killed between 2020-2024, with others severely injured and the lives of others endangered.

According to the indictment, seven people are charged with the crime of criminal association, and multiple murders as accomplices, instigators or perpetrators, four of them also committed the crime of extortion, and five also committed the crime of serious crimes against general security. One person is charged with the crime of murder, and one with the crime of extortion. The prime suspect is also charged with the crime of unauthorized production, possession, brokering and trade in weapons. 

Taking into account the circumstances, a public prosecutor on the case requested extension of previously ordered measures and confiscation of seized objects originating from a criminal offence.

Photo: MIA archive