A Bandidos bikie who left Australia to live with his grandparents in Serbia has been arrested and charged over the murder in 2012 of a Brisbane man, Jei “Jack” Lee.
Bogdan Cuic, who was arrested in the town of Novi Sad where his grandparents own a cafe, faces an extradition bid by the Australian government. He has been charged with murder by Serbia under an international arrest warrant.
Queensland homicide squad superintendent Steve Holahan said, “Obviously our government’s in liaison with Serbia in relation to it.”
Police will allege Cuic and another man, Marko Cokara, went to meet Lee to sell $12,000 of cocaine outside a Brisbane sushi restaurant. Lee was shot twice in the head at point-blank range.
They will allege Cuic’s BMW was seen at the shopping centre car park around the time of Lee’s murder and phone records show Lee was in touch with Cokara.
Cuic, who lived with his grandparents in Brisbane’s western suburbs, went overseas the day after Lee’s murder. His BMW was later found abandoned near the Brisbane river.
Police allege Cuic met other members of the Bandidos in Thailand en route to Serbia, where he was also visited by club mates.
Cuic’s grandfather, Milan, who was president of his local Serbian Orthodox church committee and of the Serbian nationalist group the Chetnik Foundation, later sold his Forest Lake house and returned to Serbia with his wife to live in Novi Sad.
SBS reported that the Serbian ministry of the interior said Cuic was being held in a prison in Novi Sad.
It is understood Cuic planned to operate a new Bandidos chapter in Belgrade, months after the Centro chapter was wiped out in the early stages of the Newman government’s bikie crackdown.
Cuic was believed to have attempted to recruit other Serbian-Australians to join the proposed new club chapter in early 2014.
His former Centro chapter was among the first to quit its club in a bid to evade harsh anti-bikie laws in 2013, handing in “colours” and carrying sworn statements drawn up by lawyers.
Centro drew scorn in the outlaw motorcycle club world as “Nike bikies” because many of members did not even ride motorcycles.
Police allege Cuic maintained contact with his Australian friends and family. His father, Sinisa, grew up with the influential Bandidos figure Sava Cvetkovic, the son of a Serbian orthodox priest, with whom he once worked as a nightclub bouncer.
