SIPA Inspector Suspected of Leaking Arrest Operation Promoted

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Fugitive war crimes suspect Ljuban Ećim evaded arrest in Banja Luka in mid-October 2018. According to Žurnal, he was supposed to come from Serbia for a family member's birthday. Security agencies received a tip, and members of the Special Unit of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) were stationed at the SIPA Regional Office in Banja Luka, but the operation was discovered, after which Ećim cancelled his trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Security agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina suspect that Svjetlan Nović, a SIPA official and first cousin of SNSD delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament Sredoje Nović, played a key role in the operation's "discovery".

"After SIPA special forces arrived in Banja Luka, not knowing they were there for Ećim, he called Milorad Dodik's escorts and informed them that an operation to arrest the then-President of Republika Srpska was being prepared. On the same day, the newspaper Večernje novosti published an article titled: 'US Embassy Preparing to Arrest Milorad Dodik'",

- After that, the highest officials of Republika Srpska got involved in the checks, and they found out that the operation was actually aimed at Ljuban Ećim - said a source for Žurnal.

Ećim, who lives in Serbia, has started a personal investigation into who tipped off SIPA that he was coming to Banja Luka. Because of this, according to information from BiH security agencies, he has already sent death threats to one of the SIPA inspectors whom he suspects of being the source of information.

SIPA did not conduct an investigation into this case. Svjetlan Nović's role in the "Ećim" case has never been fully clarified. In the meantime, Nović has been promoted, Patria has unofficially confirmed. Nović was promoted from the rank of Junior Inspector to Inspector.

"The appeals process is still pending" - said one of Patria's sources.

Ljuban Ećim has been living in Serbia for years, where he is hiding from the BiH judiciary, which suspects him of war crimes in the Kotor Varoš area. All relevant security services in the region considered him the person who organized the hiding of the then-fugitive war crimes indictee Radovan Karadžić.

During the war, he was the commander of the Red Berets in the Banja Luka region, where he worked with Nenad Stevandić. He was closely associated with Željko Ražnatović Arkan and Milorad Ulemek Legija. After the war, he continued his cooperation with the Zemun Clan, and together with Luka Bojović, he organized drug trafficking.