Bolivia: arrest of "big fish" in Santa Cruz cocaine mafia leaves trail of intrigue

[Jan Klimkowski]

More on the Bolivian events:

Policeman arrested over Bolivia murders

21 May 2010

A Bolivian policeman has been arrested under suspicion that he was involved in the recent drug-related murders in that country.

Three Serbian citizens are believed to have been among the six victims. Serbian police (MUP) on Thursday confirmed the identities of two Serbians.

Local media in La Paz say that other active and former police officers are also suspected of involvement in the killings.

The investigation so far has shown that drug lord William Rosales Suarez and his bodyguards were stopped at a fake police checkpoint, where he was kidnapped, while his entourage was tied up, tortured and murdered.

The three Serbs, according to the local media, headed a team of elite bodyguards.

In Belgrade, Interior Minister Ivica Da?i? said on Thursday that two of them have been positively identified as Saša Tur?inovi? and Bojan Bakula, while passport and ID photocopies and fingerprints sent for Predrag ?ankovi?, a third suspected victim, did not match.

The motive for the kidnapping and murders is believed to have been a million dollar reward offered by Bolivian narco-cartels for the capture of Suarez. However, local police are also looking into the possibility that the massacre was related to a showdown between international cartels active in Bolivia.

Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of coca leaves, after Colombia and Peru, and also one of the leading producers of cannabis.