President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić he said on Sunday that the police and of the Serbian Army near Kanjiza, two large backpacks with explosives and sticks were found.
"They were found by search dogs, our army and the police, near the village of Velebit, a few hundred meters from the Turkish Stream gas pipeline," Vučić said during a tour of the Expo construction site.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlić/TanjugField search near Kanjiža
"We are defending the compressor station like Kragujevac and Niš, the bird cannot fly there, and this happened in the north of Vojvodina. In terms of intelligence, our people did a good job, and I hope they will remove that explosive without casualties or tragic consequences," said Vučić.
Orban convened the Defense Council because of the explosives found near Kanjiza
It is also difficult that the investigation is ongoing and that there are traces that he cannot talk about yet, and that it is a large area and a large lake, so that it took a long time to search, but that the helicopter units helped a lot.
He also said that Serbia will "mercilessly deal" with anyone who thinks that it threatens its vital infrastructure.
Blocked roads, helicopters fly over: Army and police search for life-threatening substances
Vučić posted on Instagram that he spoke with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and informed him about the first results of the investigation by the Serbian military and police authorities, regarding "the threat to the critical gas infrastructure that connects Serbia and Hungary."
Doubts about the official version
All this is taking place only a week before the elections in Hungary, where Orban could lose power after 16 years, writes N1.
Hungarian media remind that a few days ago, security experts warned that there is a possibility of fake operations, in which Hungarian interests would allegedly be threatened.
Security expert Peter Boda said that Hungarian security forces or the military could find an explosive device near some critical infrastructure. "So, they find such an explosive device, look at the miracles, there is some 'Ukrainian' text on it, which is not so difficult to get from Soviet times, to hide and even bring into the country," said Boda.
Russia expert Andraš Rac announced on April 2 that it is not excluded that such a fake attack could be carried out in Serbia.
"Serbia is an ideal location because the regime there maintains very friendly relations with Russia, so there is a high probability that they may be asked to 'see through their fingers' when a false flag operation is organized," Rac wrote on Facebook.
On February 25, investigative journalist Baláš Kaufman also pointed to Serbia, who then published a message he received from a source: "Serbia. Serbs or Russians will launch a fake attack against Hungarian interests in the next three weeks. For now, that's all we know. Orban's goal is to introduce a state of emergency. They gave up on this kind of action in Hungary, but Orban wants to push it through."
For the leader of the Hungarian opposition, the answer is clear: "Viktor Orbán crosses every border with the help of Serbia and Russia, because he knows that the Fidesz regime is collapsing."
And the member of the European Parliament, Helmut Brandstetter, was also clear, replying to Orbán's message about the alleged attempted attack: "Couldn't you have come up with an even stupider story."
Naim Leo Beshiri, director of the Institute for European Affairs, told "Danas" that all this seems like a "carefully directed Serbian-Hungarian political theater", aimed primarily at the electorate in Hungary, which has about 20 percent of undecideds who will decide the elections:
"In times of crisis, the message is clear: don't make waves, stick to the known and stable. Viktor Orbán will play on the card of his sixteen years of experience in this framework, with a demonstration of control through the engagement of the police, army and national security bodies, with the aim of completely taking over the media space in the next seven days. Thus, even without a formal victory, he can ensure political survival through the way the electoral system is set up in Hungary."
It is assumed to be a plastic explosive
Prosecutor Mladenka Manojlović from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Subotica previously said that the prosecution qualified the case in Kanjiža in which explosives were found as a criminal offense of illegal production, carrying and trafficking of weapons and explosive materials in connection with the crime of diversion.
Manojlović told the media that during the investigation between the settlements of Gornji Breg and Vojvoda Zimonjić, two black backpacks with about four kilograms of substance were found near the road.
"We assume that it is a plastic explosive, as well as material that indicates that an explosive device could be made," added Manojlović.
As she specified, the prosecution characterized that case as a criminal offense of illegal production, carrying and trafficking of weapons and explosive substances from Article 348 paragraph 3, in connection with paragraph 2, and in conjunction with the criminal offense of diversion from Article 313 in connection with Article 30 of the Criminal Code.
Roadblock around Kanjiža
It was previously announced that in the territory of the municipality of Kanjiža, near the village of Trešnjevac, a strong force of members was observed police and the army with several passenger, off-road and van vehicles, writes RTS.
The police and the army searched the area in the municipality of Kanjiža, and several roads were blocked.
According to RTS, roads from the direction of the village of Trešnjevac to the village of Vojvoda Zimonjić are blocked, as well as the road direction from the village of Vojvoda Zimonjić to the village of Velebit.
The search was carried out combined from the ground, with control and coordination from the air, and helicopters flew over the area.
According to RTS, with the approval of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Subotica, members of the Criminal Police Directorate together with the Military Police and other units of the Serbian Armed Forces have been engaged since the early hours of the morning in blocking and searching part of the territory in the municipality of Kanjiža, in order to search for illegal substances dangerous to the lives of citizens and parts of vital infrastructure facilities in that part of Serbia.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlić/TanjugField search near Kanjiža
Regime tabloids spread the theory that bombs were found near the gas infrastructure.
"Informer" wrote that "it is suspected that bombs were planted in Kanjiza, where a state of siege currently reigns."
"All available forces of the UKP and the army on the ground, the Special 72nd Brigade, helicopters, drones, search dogs, thermal imaging of the counter-sabotage team, medical vehicles, equipment... are all engaged in the search for explosive devices," states "Informer" and adds that "suspicious objects were found near the gas infrastructure."
That tabloid also wrote that "the police are also controlling the migrants who live near this location" and that "nothing is left to chance, the terrain is checked step by step".
Orban convenes the Defense Council
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban called the Defense Council on Sunday due to the alleged discovery of a devastating explosive nearby gas infrastructure in Serbia, which connects the two countries, reports N1, referring to the Hungarian media.
On Sunday morning, Orban spoke by phone with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić about the incident, after which he scheduled a session of the Defense Council for the afternoon, it was announced from Budapest.
Photo: FoNet/Instagram of the President of SerbiaViktor Orban and Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade
According to the information available so far, in the villages near Kanjiža, not far from the settlement of Velebit, two large packages with explosives and sticks were found, in the immediate vicinity of the "Balkan Stream" gas pipeline and the compressor station, which is crucial for the transport of Russian gas to Hungary.
Balazs Orban, a member of the Hungarian Parliament and a close associate of the Prime Minister, confirmed on social media that Vučić informed Viktor Orban about the discovery of "destructive explosives and the means to activate them" on the critical gas infrastructure between Serbia and Hungary.
The Hungarian side has not released additional details about possible threats to the security of gas supply.
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