It looks like a simple house in a rural suburb outside of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Nothing looks out of order from the outside. But in 2021, when police searched it, they found a secret door in the garage leading to a hidden room.

And in this room, they found an industrial meat grinder. But this meat grinder wasn't used for animals. It was used by a criminal group to grind up human beings. They tortured their victims, often decapitated them, extracted the organs, 

cut them into small pieces, and then put the flesh through the grinder. They bagged the remains and carried them to the nearby Danube River, where they dumped them in the water. How do we know this? Because the criminal group took pictures of the process, 

and then they sent these pictures to their friends to brag. And sometimes they also sent the pictures to their enemies to taunt and warn them. They documented this process, all on highly specialized, encrypted phones that they thought were secure. 

They never thought the phones' encryption could be cracked, but it was. And no one thought this whole brutal mess would connect to Serbian law enforcement and officials. But again, it did. I'm Matt Sarnecki, a journalist and filmmaker at the 

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. I'm going to walk you through this whole bizarre story and introduce you to the journalist who connected this group's rise to top Serbian officials. The only reason I can tell you this story is because these supposedly 

- uncrackable, highly encrypted phones
were, in fact, cracked. And here's how it happened. Most people are familiar with mobile
apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal. These are the most popular services
that offer encryption.

They're all thought to be secure
to some extent, meaning authorities are not known
to be able to break the encryption -- and read the messages. But this group was using modified
phones and software -- made by a company
in Canada called Sky Global.

They were advertised
as some form of ultimate security. In addition to strong encryption, they had features
like self-destructing messages -- and the ability
to wipe the phone remotely. Now in 2019, European authorities
started a cross-border investigation --

- because they suspected that -- these phones were being
almost exclusively used by criminals. The authorities discovered
the backup servers were in France. And in 2020,
a specialized encryption unit is able -- to crack the group messages
feature of these Sky phones.

So now authorities are able to secretly
read over 2 million messages. And this is about the same time -- that the gruesome murders
in the Serbian home start taking place. We can deduce
that European authorities -- decrypted these extremely gruesome
photos, grew extremely concerned,

and decided to share these photos
with Serbian authorities. And once Serbian authorities
get this information, they're able -- to determine that one of the suspects
is actually quite famous. His name is Veljko Belivuk. And this is his story.

Veljko Belivuk, who we’ll just call Belivuk, is the leader of a Serbian group called the Principi. In the region, criminal groups get very complicated. So for the purposes of this story, you just need to remember two of them:

The Kavač clan and the Škaljari clan. And they are at war with each other. Now Belivuk’s group, which roughly translates into “The Principled”, is allied with the Kavač. His clan is mostly -

- street-level muscle and enforcers made up of football hooligans - supporting Serbia's Partizan football team. When I say football hooligans, you might not take it too seriously. But in the Balkans -

- it’s very serious business, with a lot of history and nationalism. And the stadium - has always been a firm recruiting ground for organized crime groups. So Belivuk’s group is at war. The two groups are assassinating each other with car bombs, snipers, you name it.

They are killing and being killed. But these sorts of murders left bodies. So Belivuk’s group developed a motto: “no body, no crime.” And a unique place to realize it for their enemies. They called it “The Slaughterhouse.”

Our understanding of what happened - is from the testimony of three crew members turned witnesses, the indictment, and the Sky messages exchanged as the crew went about planning these murders. At the same time, it’s very important for me to say that the trial is ongoing.

No one has been convicted, and the accused deny the charges. This was the first victim of the slaughterhouse - - for which we have ample photographic and Sky evidence. He was actually Belivuk's friend and a member of the group.

But Belivuk got the idea that he was a traitor. Belivuk had a clear message... From the day of the murder, we have CCTV stills from the home prior to the victim's arrival. Here are members of the crew arriving.

This is Belivuk himself. Then the CCTV was turned off. We can only speculate that they didn't want evidence - - of the victim arriving at the home. But they created their own photographic evidence. We've struggled to determine how to share these photos.

It goes without saying they are brutal and sadistic. But at the same time, they create a real-time picture of how this technology functioned - - and also how this group operated. So we are showing illustrations that are based on the actual photographs.

This is the victim. They carved "treason" into his back. From the witness testimony, we know that he was brutally tortured. He was decapitated with an ax and then cut into pieces. He was fed into the meat grinder.

They put his flesh into bags and then dumped it - - in the Danube river. The next victim they killed because he was in the rival criminal clan. He was lured by an acquaintance - - who had secretly turned on him, under the pretense to buy a gun.

The friend drove him
to a meadow near the slaughterhouse. But Belivuk’s gang was waiting. They jumped him and tied him up.
Then took him in a van to the slaughterhouse. And then they started sharing photos
with their crew on the Sky app.

This is Belivuk in the black t-shirt. The man smiling eventually
became one of the cooperating witnesses. They cut off
the victim's head with an ax. They wrote “Koraċ Pussy”
on his back in his own blood.

Koraċ was the name
of the rival gang’s boss. And then sent the
murdered man's boss his picture.  Belivuk gloats… The last one
I'll mention was actually - - the best man to one of
the members of Belivuk’s group.

It took work to lure
and persuade these victims. They had to find them, surveil them,
and do this all without being detected. He was also lured with a promise
to sell him a gun. They brought him to the home
above the slaughterhouse.

They played with him.
Made fun of his mask as they took pictures. But at the same time they were sending
these pictures to their friends. They made him think he was there
still to buy a gun, knowing full well that
the whole thing was a ruse.

Then they took him downstairs
to the slaughterhouse. They joked... Then Belivuk took an ax
and chopped off his head. And his friend got to work... Later they described the victim... And then - - Serbian police arrested the gang.

So that's it? The government got the bad guys
and its case closed? Not quite. This is where it actually gets
interesting. For years, there have been allegations
that the Serbian government is very closely linked to organized crime groups,
including Belivuk's group.

I visited my Serbian colleague,
Stevan Dojčinović, in Belgrade. He is probably the most renowned
investigative journalist in all of Serbia - known for his investigations into Serbian
politicians and organized crime.

This is what he told me
when I asked him about Belivuk. To understand what Stevan's talking about,
we need to take a little step back to 2017, three years
before "The Slaughterhouse" murders.

So police got Belivuk's phone, and made a report on the
WhatsApp messages they found inside. This report was actually first
published by the magazine NIN. I also want to make clear that this report
on Belivuk's WhatsApp messages -

- was never supposed
to fall into the hands of journalists. But there's another incident
with this police officer - that is even more fascinating. It's actually
a secret recording of him - when he's holding
a meeting with Belivuk's men.

A source contacted
Stevan and handed over an audio recording
of this meeting. I want to go now, lastly,
back to the messages - between the gendarme and Belivuk. It wasn't just one rogue police official.

It goes much deeper. So here, the gendarme
writes to Belivuk: The gendarme mentions
a woman named Dijana. He is referring to Dijana Hrkalović
as confirmed by the secret police report.

So Dijana, the second
most powerful police official in Serbia - - failed to hand over the very WhatsApp messages
that implicated herself with Belivuk. So is all of this the biggest scandal in Serbia?
No. Dijana was only charged with abuse of
office, and she's already out of prison.

Nothing happened to the gendarme. He is still on the police force
as far as we know. The only ones in jail
are Belivuk and his gang. And just to make clear,
Belivuk denies taking part -

- in any of the murders
in the slaughterhouse. But on another note,
Belivuk did testify at the trial - - that he previously worked for the needs
and at the service of President Aleksandar Vučić. And yes, the Vučić government did try
to suppress this testimony from becoming public.

But Stevan got that too,
and he published it. I reached out to
President Aleksandar Vučić, Dijana Hrkalović, and the gendarme,
Nenad Vučković, for comment.

The Chilling Story of Serbia's Human Slaughterhouse

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Discovery of a hidden room and a meat grinder used for gruesome murders.

A seemingly ordinary house in Serbia held a secret room.

An industrial meat grinder was found, used to grind up human remains.

The criminal group documented their actions in pictures.

The pictures were sent to friends and enemies.

Encrypted phones used by the group were cracked, leading to the discovery.

Investigation into encrypted phones and the role of Sky Global.

Popular encrypted messaging apps are discussed.

Modified phones and software from Sky Global were used by the criminals.

European authorities launched a cross-border investigation in 2019.

In 2020, authorities cracked the encryption and accessed over 2 million messages.

Gruesome photos were shared with Serbian authorities.

The Serbian criminal group, the Principi, and their leader, Veljko Belivuk.

Belivuk led the Principi group, allied with the Kavač clan.

The group consisted mainly of football hooligans.

The group's motto was "no body, no crime."

Their method involved killing and disposing of bodies to avoid detection.

Information about the murders comes from witness testimonies, indictments, and Sky messages.

Details of the murders committed by Belivuk's group.

The first victim was Belivuk's friend, suspected of betrayal.

CCTV footage shows the arrival of the group members before the murder.

Graphic details of the torture and dismemberment of the victims are described.

The victims' remains were disposed of in the Danube River.

Subsequent victims were lured and killed, with pictures shared via the Sky app.

One victim was the best man of a group member, lured under false pretenses.

Allegations of government links to organized crime and the role of journalist Stevan Dojčinović.

Allegations of close ties between the Serbian government and organized crime groups.

Stevan Dojčinović, a renowned investigative journalist, is introduced.

The situation is contextualized by looking back to 2017.

A police report on Belivuk's WhatsApp messages was leaked to journalists.

A secret recording of a meeting between a police officer and Belivuk's men was obtained.

The involvement of high-ranking police officials and the lack of consequences.

Messages between a gendarme and Belivuk reveal deeper connections.

Dijana Hrkalović, a high-ranking police official, is implicated.

Dijana Hrkalović faced minimal consequences for her actions.

Belivuk testified about working for President Aleksandar Vučić, which the government tried to suppress.