The fatal shooting of Aleksandar “Baja” Nešović at the “27” restaurant in Belgrade’s affluent Senjak neighborhood is tied to a multi-million euro parallel customs smuggling ring, high-profile defense attorney Ivan Ninić revealed.
Speaking on the prominent political talk show “Utisak nedelje” (Impression of the Week), Ninić disclosed intelligence originating from the Service for Combating Organized Crime (SBPOK), blowing open a case that has sent shockwaves through Serbia’s political and law enforcement establishments.
The Secret Customs Terminal in Šimanovci
According to Ninić, Nešović—who was gunned down in what authorities initially downplayed as a localized hospitality dispute—was deeply embedded in a parallel customs system established in 2020 by the fugitive former president of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS), Slaviša Kokeza.
“Nešović operated a major customs terminal in Šimanovci, though it was deliberately kept off his official books,” Ninić stated. “He laundered and generated massive sums of illicit wealth through this parallel customs clearing system.”
Ninić further alleged that operational data from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (JTOK) contains multiple testimonies pointing directly to Nešović’s role within the cartel.
The Cartel’s Cashier: “Numerous individuals interrogated in this ongoing organized crime case explicitly identified Nešović as the central ‘cashier’—the man to whom bagmen brought millions in cash collected on behalf of and for the account of Slaviša Kokeza,” Ninić revealed.
The €640 Million Tabloid Scandal
The scandal dates back to 2021 when the director of the Customs Administration, Miloš Tomić, and his close associates were detained and subsequently released. Following the initial heat from the probe, Kokeza fled the country and is believed to be residing in the United States. At the time, pro-government tabloids widely reported that Kokeza’s parallel customs operation had defrauded the state budget of an estimated €640 million.
[The Parallel Customs Pipeline]
State Border ──► Unauthorized Terminal (Šimanovci) ──► Illicit Parallel Duties
│
Slaviša Kokeza ◄─── Cash Smuggled to "Cashier" ◄────────────┘
(Fugitive in US) (Aleksandar Nešović)
Ninić argued that the immense financial and political gravity of this network is the real reason why Nešović’s murder has caused total panic within the current ruling establishment.
Demands to Investigate Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić
The attorney leveled sharp criticism at how the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting the current investigation, accusing them of executing a targeted cover-up.
While President Aleksandar Vučić recently made headlines by admitting that “certain police officers have been protecting criminals for over 30 years,” the state’s financial probe into the Senjak shooting has been strictly limited to the assets of the immediate gunman.
Ninić demanded that a comprehensive financial and anti-corruption investigation must be launched against everyone present at the restaurant table during the hit—most notably including Veselin Milić, the powerful Chief of the Belgrade Police, who was present at the scene.
“Limiting the financial probe to just the executioner is a textbook pressure tactic used by the state to force the gunman’s family into a plea deal to save their own problematic assets,” Ninić concluded. “To understand the true depth of this corruption, the state must audit everyone at that table—including the police chief, the restaurant owner, and even the waiter. The Senjak crime is a far wider, more sinister web than the public can possibly imagine.”
