Notorious neighbours

Why do such awful things become fads – crocs, overweight women exposing their G-strings on the high street and mass murderers living in plain view?
The recent apprehension of some of the world’s most wanted men has revealed a curious trend. Regardless of their rankings as fugitives, these men are not to be been found in caves, underground bunkers or some leafy undergrowth in the nearest Latin American jungle.

Sheltering in plain sight seems to be all the craze among the culprits of crimes against humanity, genocide and mass murder these days. In the case of, Ratko Mladic, his capture uncovered the Serbian village of Lazarevo as the idyllic, retirement retreat for the former Bosnian Serb military commander.

There is something rather strange about mass murderers going about their business in plain sight; purchasing the daily periodicals from the high-street newsagent or sending off letters and post cards from the single-manned post-office like any other pensioner. I always thought small villages bred familiarity and nosy neighbours?

With no false moustaches, curly wigs or prosthetics to disguise their faces of evil, it may seem unlikely that such infamous villains could wander around in local communities unnoticed. However, given time even the most notorious criminals can appear as ordinary as the next flat-capped, spectacle-wearing pensioner.

In the case of Mladic, local neighbours claimed he could not have possibly hidden in a populated village of less than 3,000, with one villager quoted as saying “They brought him here to make the arrest. It was just a setup to make less of a fuss.”

Former Nazi guard, John Demjanjuk, who was sentenced last month for being an accessory to the murder of some 28,000 Jews was discovered living in Ohio, as a retired mechanic from the local Ford car plant.

Only Osama Bin laden can have been considered to have maintained a degree of discretion by never venturing to the shops himself, hosting loud parties at his complex or returning any of the footballs to the neighbouring children, who managed to lose them over his compound wall. I anticipate the Pakistani authorities pointing to the recent apprehension of Mladic as a supporting example of how effortlessly a war-criminal can be over-looked.

Although fads are fleeting do not be surprised to discover war lords- Joseph Kony or Goran Hadzic captured in a town near you.

 

Ratko Mladic on the left & John Demjanjuk on the right

http://www.latestbbcnews.com/killer-of-eight-thousand-muslims-former-bosnia-serbian-army-chief-general-ratko-mladic-arrested.html

http://oneuspost.com/2011/05/12/john-demjanjuk-convicted-over-nazi-camp-deaths/