Convicted drug offender Savo Colic shot dead in Banja Luka

According to eyewitnesses and police sources, the shooting occurred during the day, prompting a swift response from emergency medical services and law enforcement. Colic, identified as a younger man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Initial reports suggest he was shot with an automatic rifle. Conflicting witness accounts indicate the assailant may have opened fire either from a motorcycle or a car. Authorities have confirmed that a suspect was arrested shortly after the incident and is currently being held at the Laus police station.

The killing has shocked residents of Laus. “No one dares to leave the nearby shops,” one local told reporters.

Colic had a long criminal history. He was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence for drug trafficking as part of the "Kavez" case. He and two others were convicted of distributing heroin and marijuana in Banja Luka between August and December 2019.

Before that, he served a 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the attempted robbery and murder of Milorad Samardzija, a local carpenter who was killed in his home in March 2009 with a Scorpion submachine gun.

Colic was also recently arrested for threatening a witness in a separate criminal case known as “Eskadron.”

An investigation into the circumstances and motive behind the killing is ongoing.