At least three multi-million loads of cocaine were taken by criminals in the last year from the Free Zone of the Port of Bar, due to the poor coordination of the security services.
This was said by the chief special prosecutor at the press conference yesterday Milivoje Katnic, talking about the latest seizure of around 500 kilograms of drugs in Podgorica.
He said that the investigation so far has established that the cocaine was not intended for "Volij", arguing that this is supported by the "modus operandi" of the mafia, which they established beyond reasonable doubt, as well as the behavior of the management, that is, the employees of the company from Podgorica.
Katnić claims that the cocaine should have been taken in the dark of the warehouse in the Free Zone of Port Bar and that the seal found in the container speaks of this.
The original seal, he explained, is placed on the container at the departure point and is not touched until the destination, which is an indication that no one has touched the cargo. He said that in this case it was established that this was the case - the seal was placed in Ecuador and was not touched until the Port of Bar.
The criminals, however, prepared a seal identical to the original one that the local investigators found. According to the chief special prosecutor, it could only be used in Bar, which is why they conclude that the drug should have been taken there...
"They should have put a seal that is identical to the original one that was put in Ecuador and thus deceive the customs authorities... It should have been taken in the dark in the warehouse (Free Zone)... like the previous one at least three times taken... The plan was to open this container, take these 500 kilograms of drugs, throw away the original seal and put another one with the same number... We concluded that this seal could only be used there... The container is there "lay" for 11 days and during that period, they had a chance to open the container, take away the drugs and put a seal identical to the original on the container... It would not have been possible to do that, except there," said Katnić.
Three tons past
Head of the Special Police Department Dragan Radonjic he said that in three cases they found that there was a shortage of cargo, but the Special State Prosecutor's Office was not informed about it.
The deficit was established in the loads on June 2, August 2 and October 14.
"So three times they managed to export significant amounts of drugs. In one case, two tons of cargo were missing, which indicates that that much drug was gone. In the second case, 500 kilograms, while in the third case, we are determining the quantity," said Katnić.
"How we got there - by being smart", he added and explained that they concluded all this on the basis of documentation.
He said that all these cases were recorded, which was established by customs officials and freight forwarders...
"They noted in the minutes that a certain amount of goods was missing and informed the seller of the goods, which is this company from Slovenia. In one of those cases, the orderer was Voli, and this is another indicator that the drugs should not have entered Voli".
He said the lapses occurred because the security system did not operate in a unified manner, unlike the sector he heads...
"The special police team operates uniquely, but sometimes as if in occupied territory... A serious failure occurred in the intelligence community of Montenegro. Let them see... Why was nothing done when this was happening... The SDT should have been informed and we would not have had to determine in this way, to go to Voli, but we would have waited for them there, and then prints could be taken, so it would be determined who was taking, who was coming... So, the entire Montenegrin intelligence community failed, which does not mean that certain segments did not work well. But, as you can see, two to three tons have passed, which is hundreds of millions of euros," said Katnić.
Report against Drobnjak
Special Prosecutor Miroslav Turković said that on January 13, the SDT filed a criminal complaint against Đok Drobnjak, whom they suspect of becoming a member of a criminal organization formed by two unknown persons.
He said that he suspects that freight forwarder of having manipulated containers containing narcotic drugs, i.e. of marking the container with which drugs arrived in Bar at the beginning of January and redirecting it to Voli in order to enable other members of the criminal group to take it over, but that in prevented from doing so.
"The goal of the criminal organization was to take drugs under the measures of customs control in the Free Zone," said Turković.
Turković also emphasized that he suspects unknown citizens of Ecuador to have become members of that criminal organization, and that their task was to procure seals, leave them in containers with cocaine, so that other members would seal them again when they took the drugs.
The criminal organization, he said, operated in several European countries.
The cocaine seized in Podgorica is 96 percent pure. “It's perfection. But I don't suggest you try it... Everyone knows that I'm an athlete, alcohol, coffee - nothing, not even white", said Katnić with a smile to the journalists.
Ecuador, Slovenia and some of our...
Katnić said that the fact that the Voli workers reported a suspicious substance in the packages is irrelevant, because the investigators already knew what it was about and were waiting to carry out the action.
He said that there was a possibility that a criminal group would steal drugs from Bar to Wally, but that they were also ready for that and that "the bird could not fly".
"The third possibility was that those from Voli were also involved. "Nothing was broken, except that it was confirmed that the workers proved to be honorable and honest and top workers," he said.
He praised the workers who did not try to "take a kilogram or two and put it in their pocket"...
"After that there was also a polygraph test, but that is also meaningless now... We discovered Ecuador, some of these from Slovenia and some of these here," he said.
He did not want to say whether the cocaine belonged to one of the two Kotor clans.
Petričević said that the analysis determined that the same forwarder acted in all three cases in which the lack of goods in the containers was determined
Peruničić also listened to Katnić's private conversations
Prosecutor Miroslav Turković said that at the end of last year, an indictment was brought against the former director of the National Security Agency (ANB) Dejan Peruničić for wiretapping Katnić's cabinet.
He said that the former head of the secret service organized the installation of a technical audio recording device in the office of the chief special prosecutor and that he took notes on Katnic's conversations - private and official.
He pointed out that the SDT did not have the elements to continue the investigation into the discovery of the lifeless body of long-time secret service agent Luka Bulatović, but that some evidence from that investigation was submitted to the indictment against Peruničić.
"Voli" suspected that someone would plant drugs on them
The Voli company has repeatedly requested that the customs officials screen the containers in which the bananas are intended for their trade chain, and in the requests they expressed their suspicion that someone could plant them with illegal goods.
They also demanded that the officials of the Revenue and Customs Administration, despite the scanning, be present in the Logistics Center and supervise the transshipment of goods.
They also sent such a request for the shipment that arrived on January 2, and which was brought to their Logistics Center 10 days later.
"We want to protect the reputation and reputation that has been built over the past 26 years, by taking all the necessary preventive protection and control measures, and I ask you to send UPC officials to carry out control and attend the receipt of goods at the company's Logistics Distribution Center," reads the request sent to the director of UPC 11 January.
When asked what was written in the demands of the company Voli, and whether they expressed doubt that someone could plant cocaine in their bananas, Katnić pointed to that company yesterday, and Acting Director of UPC Milena Petričević pointed out that no one can ask them to do what what the law obliges them to do.
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