The Prosecutor's Office announced that the investigation established that no Montenegrin citizen was involved in the smuggling of 250 kilograms of cocaine, which was seized in June 2014 in the Port of Bar.
The European Commission, however, recently criticized the authorities, writing in the Progress Report that the network that organized the drug trade was not discovered during the investigation.
"The specific case was handled by the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica and the Department for Suppression of Organized Crime... The Department's case files, according to an international legal request, were delivered to the investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica, in order to deliver them to the judicial authorities of Albania - the Prosecutor's Office in Durrës, because in the investigation process, the existence of grounds for suspicion that any person - a citizen of Montenegro committed any criminal offense for which prosecution is undertaken ex officio - was not established", the office of Supreme State Prosecutor Ivica Stanković replied to "News".
They said that the expert examination at the Danilovgrad Forensic Center confirmed the preliminary results - that cocaine "in a total mass of 253,505 kilograms" was seized in Bar.
Officials of the Customs Administration discovered a record amount of cocaine in Montenegro, in three containers that arrived from Ecuador.
Customs officials discovered the white powder before the container was to be transferred by truck to the Albanian company "Rrapaj komerc".
However, this does not mean that the loads of cocaine were intended for that company, because there is a possibility that during the transport the smugglers intended to take the drug in Montenegro...
After the record seizure, the police then unofficially accused the prosecutors that due to an omission, they would never find out who the drugs were intended for.
The interlocutors of "Vijesti" then claimed that the prosecutors did not ask them to use the "controlled delivery" technique to try to get to those who were supposed to receive the cocaine and that therefore there was no chance of discovering the organizer of the smuggling of cargo worth 12,5 million euros.
On April 25, 2014, three containers with fruit and cocaine left Ecuador by ship for Europe. Based on data available on specialized internet sites, "Vijesti" obtained information that the cargo container was filled in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, and that it sailed from the terminal there on the deck of the ship "Bogor".
The ship arrived at the terminal in the Spanish port of Malaga on May 15, where the container was unloaded, which was loaded onto the ship "Hamonia Antofagasta" the next day, after which it arrived at the terminal in Malta three days later.
From May 19 to 29, that refrigerated container was in Malta (Marsaxlokk), and on May 29, the German ship "York Valiant" loaded it and connected it to Bar, where it arrived on May 31 of this year.
Albanian police arrested Colombian Luiz Augusto Cesar Triana Pelaez (37), on suspicion of having participated in the smuggling of 250 kilograms of cocaine.
The Colombian was arrested at the airport in Tirana when he refused to leave Albania with a Spanish passport and head for Madrid. At the time, the Albanian media wrote that Tirana's task was to take over a load of cocaine in Albania that "fell" in Montenegro.
European Commission: Nothing was done after the seizure
In the Report for 2015, the European Commission recently pointed out that after the seizure of drugs in Bar, nothing was done.
"The network that organized this drug trade was not identified during the investigation. Apart from this large quantity, there have been no other drug seizures in Bar, despite the heavy traffic of container ships, including ships from South America.
Until now, there have been no cases of confiscation of funds acquired through drug trafficking, even though Montenegro is a transit country," says the EC Report.
The prosecution will not say where the cocaine is and claims that it is safe
The Prosecutor's Office did not precisely answer the question of "Vijesti" where they keep the confiscated expensive powder.
"The narcotic drug in question was left for safekeeping in the place designated for it," said the VDT.
According to the earlier knowledge of "Vijesti", the high-value cocaine was stored in police warehouses after the expert examination, where it should be until the court decides to destroy it.
In the past eight years, in three separate actions, about eight tons of narcotics were destroyed, among which marijuana is the leading one.
Judging by the quantities of drugs, which have been destroyed in the furnaces of Željezara and KAP since 2006, there is no cocaine that was seized almost ten years ago in the Port of Bar.
In December 2004, loads of cocaine were discovered in containers under asphalt covers, and in 2012 Vuksan M. Cemović from Beran and Momčilo D. Pecić from Belgrade were convicted for this smuggling business from South America.
In a repeated court trial, they were sentenced to 7,5 years in prison each as organizers.
The High Court found evidence that Cemović and Pecić organized the transportation of cocaine, and during the trial experts proved that the loads contained 58,8 kilograms of cocaine, not 202 kilograms as the police announced after discovering the controlled shipment.
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