Editing Arkan (section)

===Western Europe===
In 1972, aged 20, Ražnatović migrated to Western Europe.<ref name="Arkanova ostavština"/> Abroad, he was introduced to and kept contact with many well-known criminals from Yugoslavia, such as [[Ljubomir Magaš|Ljuba Zemunac]], [[Ranko Rubežić]], [[Đorđe Božović|Đorđe "Giška" Božović]], and [[Goran Vuković]], all of whom were also occasionally contracted by the [[State Security Administration (Yugoslavia)|UDBA]], and all of whom have since been assassinated or otherwise died. Ražnatović took the nickname "Arkan" from one of his forged [[passport]]s. On 28 December 1973, he was arrested in Belgium following a bank robbery, and was sentenced to ten years in prison.<ref name="Arkanova ostavština"/> In 1974, Ražnatović was active in [[Sweden]] and among other crimes robbed a bank in [[Kungälv]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johansson |first=Kristian |date=2023-12-26 |title=Anne-Marie var med om bankrånet på Nordmannatorget 1974 |url=https://www.kungalvsposten.se/nyheter/anne-marie-var-med-om-bankranet-pa-nordmannatorget-1974.cafb7933-c331-4564-a771-3e466112af7e |access-date=2024-08-17 |website=Kungälvs-Posten |language=sv}}</ref>

Ražnatović managed to escape from the [[Verviers]] prison on 4 July 1979.<ref name="Arkanova ostavština"/> Although he was apprehended in the Netherlands on 24 October 1979, the few months he was free were enough for at least two more armed robberies in Sweden and three more in the Netherlands. Serving a seven-year sentence at a prison in [[Amsterdam]], Ražnatović pulled off another escape on 8 May 1981 after someone slipped him a gun. Wasting no time, more robberies followed, this time in [[West Germany]], where after less than a month of freedom he was arrested in [[Frankfurt]] on 5 June 1981 following a jewellery store stickup. In the ensuing shootout with police he was lightly wounded, resulting in his placement in the prison hospital ward. Looser security allowed Ražnatović to escape again only four days later, on 9 June, supposedly by jumping from the window, beating up the first passerby and stealing his clothing before disappearing.<ref name="Arkanova ostavština"/> His final Western European arrest occurred in [[Basel]], Switzerland, during a routine traffic check on 15 February 1983. However, he managed to escape again within months, this time from [[Thorberg Castle|Thorberg]] prison on 27 April.

It is widely speculated that Ražnatović was closely affiliated with the [[State Security Administration (Yugoslavia)|UDBA]] throughout his criminal career abroad.<ref name="Arkanova ostavština"/> He had convictions or warrants in Belgium (bank robberies, prison escape), the Netherlands (armed robberies, prison escape), Sweden (twenty burglaries, seven bank robberies, prison escape, [[attempted murder]]),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-03-01 |title=Aftonbladet nyheter: Kriget om Kosovo |url=http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9903/31/kosovo5.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301221147/http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9903/31/kosovo5.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-01 |access-date=2024-05-20 }}</ref> West Germany (armed robberies, prison escape), Austria, Switzerland (armed robberies, prison escape), and Italy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-26 |title=Vreme 993 - Deset godina od ubistva Zeljka Raznatovica: Arkanova ostavstina |url=http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=906970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026053638/http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=906970 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2017-10-26 |access-date=2024-05-20 }}</ref> Ražnatović had achieved the status in the Belgrade underworld of earning ''"strahopoštovanje"'', a Serbo-Croat phrase that roughly translates as being "respected for fear".{{sfn|Schlichte|2010|p=321}} ''Strahopoštovanje'' was generally achieved in the Yugoslav underworld by committing violent crimes in Western Europe, being arrested and convicted, serving a sentence in a Western European prison, and terrorizing the other inmates to such an extent that the said criminal became the most feared inmate in the prison.{{sfn|Schlichte|2010|p=321}} In the macho world of the Yugoslav underworld, having ''strahopoštovanje'' status was seen as proof of a criminal's toughness and masculinity.{{sfn|Schlichte|2010|p=321}}