The theft of oil from transformers was a very organized "business", and according to the operational knowledge of the police, the oil was sold in large quantities to drivers of trucks and other forest machines in a tavern in the Beran suburb of Pešca.
"The group of young men who are suspected of that crime were followed for a long time and in the end everything was recorded with a camera secretly installed near a substation," said the interlocutor from the police.
Beran citizens Aleksa Golubović, Aleksandar Davidović and Vaso Ćeranić were arrested on suspicion of stealing oil from substations in the area of that city, Andrijevica, Plava, Gusinja.
After their arrest, they were brought to the basic state prosecutor, and they were charged with having committed a criminal offense - theft.
When, sometime in the first half of the year, the so-called Gornja sela, in the area below Bjelasica in the municipality of Beran, remained without electricity for two days, it turned out that the breakdown was of a tragicomic nature - thieves stole mineral oil from several substations from which they are powered villages"...
Golubović is the son of the former president of Berana Municipality, Vuka Golubović.
"By searching their houses, special equipment and other tools were found, which are now subject to expert examination. I think that with this we have put an end to that chain, which operated for a long time in the area from Gusinje to Beran, and that there is enough evidence," said the interlocutor from the police.
When, sometime in the first half of the year, the so-called Gornja sela, in the area below Bjelasica in the Beran municipality, were left without electricity for two days, it turned out that the failure was of a tragicomic nature - thieves stole mineral oil from several substations that supply these villages.
"Until now, houses and villas have been ransacked, but for someone to leave entire villages without electricity because of oil from substations, that is scandalous and shameful. What a people we are," said one of the residents of the village of Lubnica.
He said that at first they thought it was a breakdown due to storms, which are not uncommon below Bjelasica.
"When the electricians came and told us why there was no electricity, we simply couldn't believe it," said the elderly resident. In the Beran municipality, thieves stole mineral oil from seven energy transformers, so-called substations - in just two weeks...
The oil was stolen from the transformer stations Praćevac, Bastahe, Lubnica 1, Jelovica 2, which supply the villages of Podbjelasica, Mašte 1 at the other end of the Beran municipality, in the Police area, then in the Prigard settlement of Buče and finally, at the third end of the municipality, in the village of Bubanja towards Bijelo Polje.
One of CEDIS' maintenance chiefs said that the electricians managed to save all transformers by adding oil in a timely manner and put them into operation, except in Bubanje, where a spare transformer was then installed.
CEDIS regularly announced that all cases were properly reported to the Police Directorate, ie the Berane Security Center and the Security Department in Andrijevica, because substations are broken into on the territory of that municipality as well.
They said that frequent cases of theft of elements from energy facilities cause longer interruptions in the supply of electricity to consumers.
CEDIS teams have been extraordinary in controlling facilities and electrical networks, but constant monitoring, as they say, is not possible over around 5.000 substations, over 20.000 kilometers of overhead lines and thousands of metal poles...
Wire elements were known to be used as cables, and trailers for cars and other vehicles were made from metal parts from transmission poles.
When it comes to mineral oil from substations, things became clearer after it was explained that it can be used as fuel for old diesels, tractors and tillers.
"Imagine now that someone caused tens of thousands of euros worth of damage due to a dozen or more liters of oil. Because, if it is not discovered in time what it is about and the missing oil is not added, then the transformer is damaged, or the entire substation burns down", said one CEDIS official.
According to him, the damage done is measured in hundreds of thousands of euros.
"There are two screws on the transformer, one of which is at high risk of loosening due to the voltage. Thieves also did it skillfully. "They used to leave a little bit of oil, just enough so that it was not immediately known that the substation had been damaged," said that official.
Car mechanics explain that the mineral oil from the transformer is used in smaller quantities to clean the engine and that it was mostly obtained on the black market, since it is not available for sale. Drivers of trucks, tractors, skidders and other forest machines came to it easily in that tavern in Berane and used it in large quantities.
And festivals postponed due to oil theft
According to unofficial information, in August, when the electricity went out in the suburban settlement of Dolac, near the old dock building of the Beran airport, which forced the youth music festival Thunder to be postponed one night, it turned out that oil had been stolen from the transformer station that supplies that part of Beran.
This is precisely the Jugovina substation from which transformer oil was stolen twice in the previous 20 days.
"That substation belongs to the Dolac transmission line, which is being reconstructed as part of the 30 million euro revitalization project of the MV and LV network, which will significantly improve power supply for rural areas over the next three years. Therefore, the transformer from which the oil is stolen is new and recently installed, within the mentioned project" - they announced from CEDIS.
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