An attack took place on the parish priest Zarko Vujica, in the Kakanj parish of St. Peter and Paul on Saturday night when a masked robber broke into the premises of the parish house, tied up the reverend and stole money and gold jewellery at knifepoint.

“At 9:05 pm, the Kakanj Police Station received a report of a robbery committed against the pastor of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, during which a certain amount of money and gold jewellery was stolen by a person at the threat of a knife. An investigation was carried out by members of the Criminal Police Department of the Zenica-Doboj Canton’s Interior Ministry,” the Ministry spokesperson told Avaz daily.

The mayor of Kakanj, Mirnes Bajtarevic, immediately condemned the attack and expressed sympathy with the priest.

“It is with pain in my soul that I express my disappointment and disbelief that there are such evil people who are willing to carry out such a heinous and terrible attack. I expect the competent cantonal ministry to find the perpetrator as soon as possible, and from the judicial authorities to severely punish them. I express the willingness of the Municipality of Kakanj to settle the material damage caused by the attack and robbery, and I especially emphasize that the biggest pain was caused by the fact that pastor Zarko Vujica was attacked so savagely, to whom I send expressions of sympathy, as well as to all the faithful and all the people who received the news with sadness,” the Mayor said.

The priest told the Centralna.ba portal that he was tied up and that the robbers held a knife to his neck, but that he was not beaten.

“I'm in shock,” he stated briefly.