Czechs nab suspect in contract killings

BELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian man reported to be a contract killer sought by authorities in three countries has been arrested in the Czech Republic, police said Saturday.

The man is suspected of using firearms to kill and is sought by authorities in the Netherlands, Hungary and Serbia, Czech police said.

A Serbian police statement said authorities are seeking to extradite the man, identified only by his initials D.C., born in 1980, from the Czech Republic. It says he was arrested Friday evening in a Prague hotel as part of cooperation among several countries.

The suspect had false documents, two guns and ammunition, as well as a wig and glasses when he was arrested, police said.

Serbia’s Blic daily reported that the man is a well-known contract killer named Caba Der. Serbian media outlets published footage in January alleging to show the suspect getting out of a car and shooting his victim in a Belgrade suburb in broad daylight after ordering the man to kneel.

He also reportedly shot a Croatian man in an Italian restaurant in Amsterdam in June, and was said to have killed a Hungarian businessman in Budapest in September.

Serbian media outlets reported that he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2004 in Serbia for killing a man and that after release he became a contract killer with no specific ties to organized-crime groups.