Speaking at a news conference following a visit to Belgrade by representatives of the Croatian police, Gerovac said that the two countries’ police forces have been cooperating on the case since the very start and that at their meeting in Belgrade they exchanged the information collected.
Serbian police have done everything that is usually done in such cases and the search is continuing with the same intensity as on the first day, Gerovac said.
The delegation of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior was received for talks by Serbian Minister of the Interior Aleksandar Vulin and the meeting was also attended by Nenad Periš, father of the young man gone missing.
“Serbian police have a working version of the events which I cannot comment on. Some versions that existed initially have been ruled out,” Gerovac said, stressing that there were no indications that Periš’s disappearance is due to foul play.
He said that Serbian police have analysed hours of footage from surveillance cameras that caught Periš’s movement on the night he went missing.
The Croatian police official would not comment on the information provided by Serbian police on possible drug use, noting that it is still being investigated.
There are currently no holes in the information collected, he said, adding that Croatian police would talk to Periš’s friends as long as necessary to clarify some ambiguities.
There are some activities Croatian police can carry out to help their colleagues in Serbia, he said.
Gerovac said that Serbian police have all the capacity to locate the missing man’s phone and that they have done all they could have.
Croatian police will analyse information from Periš’s mobile phone and forward it to Serbian colleagues, he said.
“The family, friends… are the crucial source of information. Serbian police have talked to them, they have taken a lie detector test which does not indicate their involvement in the disappearance,” he said.
In looking for Periš, police are also using drones and thermal-vision cameras and given their assumption that Periš went into the Sava River, neighbouring countries are involved in the search as well, Gerovac said, adding that Croatian police will continue working on the case and stay in touch with Periš’s family.
“We hope the case will be solved and he is found alive,” he said.
Matej Periš went missing in the night from 30 to 31 January in Belgrade, after leaving the Gotik night club.
He had arrived in Belgrade with his friends for New Year’s Eve and was last seen on footage from surveillance cameras, running in the streets of Belgrade.
