The investigating judge of the Basic Court in Žabljak ordered Vladan Novaković from Podgorica to be detained for up to 30 days, suspected of having shot a roe deer five days ago in the Durmitor National Park, and then tore off its head.
This is what the President of the Basic Court Žabljak Mihailo Anđelić told the News.
"We inform you that Vladan Novaković was ordered to be detained for up to 30 days by the decision of the investigating judge of the Basic Court in Žabljak, for the criminal offense - illegal hunting under Art. 352 st. 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro in connection with the criminal offense - illegal possession of weapons and explosive substances from Art. 403 st. 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro", said judge Anđelić.
Durmitor National Park supervisors caught Novakovic on April 16, after a chase.
They disarmed him and detained him until the police arrived, but then the other poacher managed to escape.
Since then, the police have not been able to find out who the other poacher is, although he allegedly left his "jeep" in the Zabljak village of Saranci during his escape.
"Police officers of the Žabljak Security Department are taking intensive measures and actions to identify the person who was in the area of the Durmitor National Park on April 16, and who committed poaching, after which he managed to leave the location. When this person is identified, in consultation with the competent state prosecutor's office in Pljevlja, measures prescribed by law will be taken against him. For the purpose of further investigation, we cannot present more information at this moment", the Police Administration replied to the News.
They did not answer how many times and when they prosecuted Novaković for illegal hunting, but also whether he was accompanied by a man from Podgorica who had been arrested several times before for poaching in a protected area.
The supervisors chased Novakovic and his fellow poacher for more than an hour through the locality of Šiplje, on the left side of the Tara canyon.
In the Šaranac area, one of the supervisors reached Novaković, grabbed him by his backpack and knocked him to the ground.
At that moment, the other managed to slip away from them…
They had previously been spotted by supervisors while patrolling the grounds, and the pursuit began when two armed individuals refused to stop at their warnings. After knocking down Novaković, the supervisors found a hunting carbine with a sniper on him, and the head of a killed roe deer was found in the bag he was carrying.
A little later, the police found a discarded silencer and 7,5 kilograms of venison in a bag, and they also found the skeleton of a shot animal.
After the arrest of Novaković, the Durmitor NP guards found two "jeeps" left at the place from which the poachers started their action.
Novaković was previously arrested for poaching in the protected area of the Durmitor National Park, but he passed the court only with a fine.
The President of the Board of Directors of the National Parks of Montenegro, Marina Jočić, after the last incident on Durmitor, said that a rifle worth 14.000 euros was found on a man from Podgorica, and that the court sentenced him to a fine of 1.700 euros, in addition to which he had to pay 1.300 euros in compensation to the NP Durmitor. The criminal offense of illegal hunting is punishable by a fine, as well as a prison sentence of up to three years.
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