BELGRADE police hunting the assassins of Zoran Djindjic arrested Svetlana Raznatovic, the widow of the paramilitary warlord Arkan, yesterday on charges of harbouring two gangland leaders suspected of plotting the murder of the Serbian Prime Minister.

Masked gendarmerie commandos stormed the 30-year-old singer’s luxurious fortified villa complex facing the Red Star Belgrade football club’s stadium at dawn yesterday.

The raid was part of an unprecedented crackdown on organised crime suspects that was launched after Dr Djindjic was shot and fatally wounded by a sniper last Wednesday. Mrs Raznatovic, a hugely popular folk superstar in Serbia who is nicknamed “Ceca”, was one of 318 people arrested around the country using special powers granted to police and security forces under a state of emergency declared last week.

Ceca married Arkan, whose full name was Zeljko Razanatovic, the leader of the feared Tigers’ paramilitary group, in 1995. He was shot and killed in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel three years ago.

She was arrested on charges of harbouring Milorad Lukovic, the former head of Serbia’s Red Berets police special force unit, and Dusan Spasojevic at her home a short time before the assassination was carried out, police sources said. Police believe that Mr Lukovic ordered the killing of Dr Djindjic after the Prime Minister refused to maintain political protection for the former paramilitary officer’s crime empire in Belgrade. Ceca was charged also with providing financial assistance to the family of another mobster from the same gang, Dejan “Bugsy” Milenkovic.

Police seized large quantities of military equipment from the singer’s home during the raid.

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