Prosecutor releases Belgrade Airport security breach details

NEWS FLASH

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade has detailed how a 33-year-old man entered the restricted zone at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport on Monday with his car and drove across the apron for several minutes before fleeing the scene and subsequently being arrested. According to the allegations in the criminal complaint, it is suspected that on January 20, at around 12:23 PM, Srdjan S. entered the main gate of the maintenance company "JAT Tehnika" in a Dacia Duster vehicle equipped with a yellow rotating light and marked with the number "120" on the hood. Believing it to be an official company vehicle, the workers at the gate lifted the barrier and allowed the car to pass. The suspect then continued driving onto the airport’s apron before breaking through the exit barrier and fleeing the scene in the direction of the Trbušnica border crossing with Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was intercepted by police officers and taken into custody. The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate has condemned the incident and launched an emergency aviation security inspection, as well as an urgent review of the airport’s zone boundaries. “The Directorate will introduce additional safeguards and pursue appropriate actions against those responsible, in line with the Law on Air Transport”, the regulator said.