The President of the Board of Directors of the New Tobacco Plant, Isat Boljević, told the police officers yesterday that he moved the cigarettes from the Tobacco Plant to a rented warehouse in Karabuško Polje, in order to free up space in that company for the storage of one hundred tons of tobacco.
He was arrested shortly after 13:14 pm at the Božaj border crossing when entering Montenegro, 3,9 days after the police announced that they found illegal cigarettes worth around XNUMX million euros in a warehouse near Tuza.
A source from the police told "Vijesti" that Boljević, however, told the inspectors that the production value of the tobacco products found in those warehouses was 300.000, not 4.000.000 euros.
The interlocutor from the investigation claims that Boljević explained at the hearing that he rented warehouses in Karabuško polje from Golden Gate because he needed space to store raw materials.
The same source said that Baranin also said that the cigarettes were not intended for illegal export:
"He said that those cigarettes were intended for a well-known customer, outside the borders of Europe, and that he had asked the competent state authorities for permission to export. He explained that the warehouse in Karabuško polje was neither excise nor customs, but an ordinary warehouse space and that he had the right to store cigarettes there".
According to him, Boljević told the inspectors that he was not running away from the investigators, but that he had gone on a business trip before the police action, in order to sign business contracts.
The secret warehouse in Karabuško polje had no markings, nor documents issued by law to store cigarettes of the New Tobacco Combine Podgorica or any other manufacturer.
The Police Directorate officially announced that Boljević was arrested at the Božaj Border Crossing based on a local warrant issued for him due to reasonable suspicion that he had committed a criminal offense - smuggling.
The director of the company Novi duvanski kombinat AD Podgorica was questioned before the inspectors of the Special Police Team, after which he was detained for up to 72 hours.
The police were allegedly looking for Boljević because of the suspicion that he was involved in the smuggling of cigarettes worth millions.
Those cigarettes were produced in the past year at the New Tobacco Factory (NDK) in Podgorica, owned since last year by BMJ Industries FZ-LLC from the United Arab Emirates.
Mićović: Boljević did not run away, he announced his arrival to the prosecutors
Isat Boljević's lawyer, lawyer Danilo Mićović, confirmed to "Viješta" that he attended Baranin's hearing. He explained that early yesterday he submitted a submission to the special state prosecutor, informing him that Boljević was on his way to Montenegro and that he was ready to make himself available to them:
"This means that after entering Montenegro, Boljević intended to report directly to prosecutor Saša Čađenović. He was detained at the entrance to Montenegro for no reason.
The defense has no information that a warrant was issued for him".
Mićović claims that he did not wait for Boljević at the border crossing: "The allegations that he is suspected of the criminal offense of smuggling are not correct either. Boljević's statement was taken in his capacity as a citizen, and after the hearing, he was detained because of the alleged criminal offense of abuse of official position in business operations.
In the only police statement before the arrest of Boljević, the police wrote on March 28 that they were checking the possible involvement of someone from the NDKP in connection with the production of certain brands in that factory that were found during the search of the above-mentioned facilities.
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