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Croatia arrests British suspect over party island killing
ZAGREB, June 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Croatian authorities arrested a young
British man Thursday on suspicion of stabbing to death another Briton on a
popular party island in the Adriatic, in what local media said was a drug-
related brawl between British gangs.
“We have identified the person suspected of committing the killing … and
the suspect was arrested this morning at the airport in Split”, on the
central Adriatic coast, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic told reporters.
A police statement identified the suspect as a 25-year-old British man.
The victim was a 26-year-old British tourist who was killed at dawn
Wednesday on the resort island of Pag.
Two other Britons were hurt in the alleged brawl on a beach, famous for
parties. One of them suffered life-threatening stab wounds and was
hospitalised while a third British tourist sustained minor injuries, hospital
sources said.
The Jutarnji List paper — which identified the victim as Ugo W. and said
surveillance cameras recorded the fight — reported Thursday that the “young
men clashed over an area where they were selling drugs.”
Croatia’s northern island of Pag, particularly the town of Novalja and Zrce
beach, is well known as a summer party destination for young tourists, many
of them British.
Tourism is a major industry for Croatia where visitors flock to its
stunning Adriatic coast, with more than 1,000 islands and islets.
Last year the country of 4.2 million people welcomed more than 17 million
tourists. Among them were more than 750,000 British visitors.
BSS/AFP/RY/1705 hrs