ATHENS, July 18 (AFP) - Greek authorities were Sunday awaiting a Serbian extradition request for a suspect they were holding for last year's murder of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic.
Dejan Milenkovic, 34, was arrested in northern Greece on Friday after a two-month hunt, unarmed but carrying a suitcase full of cash according to authorities.
"We are awaiting the extradition request from Belgrade," the chief of police for the northern city of Salonika, Constantinos Tzekis, told AFP. Under Greek law, such a request must come within 50 days of a suspect's arrest.
Milenkovic was to appear before a local prosecutor later Sunday.
He is one of 13 people on trial in Belgrade for the March 12, 2003 Belgrade assassination of reformist prime minister Djindjic -- he and six others are being tried in absentia.
Police believe that Milenkovic, who has been on the run for more than a year, was preparing to leave Greece and did not exclude the possibility he intended to use the money to buy identity papers.
Tzekis said the suspect was one of the founding members of a mafia clan based in Zemun outside Belgrade, which authorities accuse of having planned the assassination.
Another Greek security official said Milenkovic was also suspected of having taken part in another attempted hit on Djindjic's life in February 2003.
Once an extradition request is made, it is up to the Greek justice minister to decide on a suspect's fate.