Action against human trafficking: Police officers released after hearing, denied guilt

Aco Kalpačina and Radomir Stojović, police officers arrested in the international action to prevent human trafficking, were released after hearing at the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).

They denied the commission of the crime they were charged with.

Kalpačina and Stojković are officers of the Department of Security (OB) Danilovgrad, and 12 people were arrested in the police operation this morning.

The arrests were made on the territory of Podgorica, Nikšić, Herceg Novi and Danilovgrad.

Among those arrested are Vlado Perošević from Danilovgrad and his wife Anđela, her father and brother Milenko and Željko Dragutinović from Nikšić and their son-in-law Mitar Kecojević.

Darko Mijušković, Ratko Kadović and Svetlana Aleksić from Nikšić were also arrested.

Dragan Dragutinović was also arrested in Danilovgrad, and Kalpačina was arrested in Podgorica.

Among those arrested is Ljubomir Đedović from Herceg Novi.

"Vijesta" was unofficially told by the Police Administration that the arrest of the suspects broke a strong network of smugglers.

"For more than a year, the Department for the Suppression of Criminal Offenses, the Suppression of Smuggling, Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration, headed by Nikola Medenica, has been working on the realization of the international action 'Monika'. In coordination and by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the action was successfully completed this morning with the arrest of 12 people who formed a strong network and smuggled people," said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".

Nikola Medenica, the head of the department that managed the "Monika" operation, announced that since January, the suspects have been smuggling asylum seekers from the border with Albania through Montenegro to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He added that international cooperation with the police services in Bosnia and Herzegovina was achieved during the action, as well as cooperation with EUROPOL through the exchange of information.

"This action represents the continuation of the police's activities in the fight against organized criminal groups that participate in human smuggling through the territory of Montenegro as a transit country. Please note that in the last year, five chains of smuggling networks have been cut and five organized criminal groups, which numbered a total of 51, have been broken up. member," the Police Administration said in a statement.