"Unprecedented crime": 1,000 antibody tests go missing in Kragujevac, investigation under way

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An investigation has been under way in Kragujevac since March into the theft of tests for checking coronavirus antibodies, which disappeared from the Institute of Public Health in that city. As Telegraf.rs has learned, about 1,000 tests went missing, but just over 400 reappeared after the institution's director Dr. Dragan Vasiljevic reported the case to the police.

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He is not making any statements in the interest of the investigation, and as we have learned from a source involved in the probe, the second round of interviews with all employees is under way at the Institute.

"A very serious investigation is underway. The second round of interviews with people is underway, footage from security cameras is being reviewed," says our source.

He added that these are tests for checking antibodies, which the Institute of Public Health in Kragujevac received from the state Health Insurance Fund (RFZO).

"These tests were given to the Institute by the Fund to test its employees," says our source and adds that everyone is stunned by this theft:

"In an emergency situation, during an epidemic, for someone to steal tests is an unprecedented crime."

On this occasion, Telegraf.rs also addressed the Police Administration in Kragujevac, where we have been told to contact the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in that city, given that the investigation is ongoing. We also sent questions to the prosecution, however, we are yet to receive any reply.

On the other hand, a spokesperson of the prosecution, Gordana Strikovic, confirmed for RTS that work is underway to check the disappearance of several hundred serological tests for coronavirus that went missing from the Institute.

According to her, the police in Kragujevac reacted in March after Director of the Institute of Public Health Dragan Vasiljevic filed a criminal complaint against unknown perpetrators who stole the tests.

The complaint was forwarded to the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office, which asked the police to identify the possible perpetrators. Checks based on the criminal complaint are still ongoing, Strikovic said.

(Telegraf.rs)