Stijepovic will be sentenced to six and a half years for drug smuggling

By the second-instance verdict of the Court of Appeal, the defendant Ivan Stijepović from PoIvan Stijepodgorica was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs.

That decision confirmed the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Bijelo Polje.

By the same verdict, the defendant was also ordered to confiscate narcotic drugs, and the trailer used during the commission of the crime was confiscated from the defendant.

According to the indictment, on August 18, 2021, Stijepović transported 480 kilograms of marijuana - hemp, for the purpose of sale, without authorization in a truck "Volvo FH 519" (PG KA 300,12).

He packed the drug in 315 PVC packages and hid it in the back of the refrigerated truck, and with the loaded vehicle headed towards the border with Serbia.

"The Court of Appeal appreciates that the first-instance court correctly established and validly and sufficiently reasoned in the first-instance judgment, from which it undoubtedly follows that the accused IS committed the criminal offense of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs. In the way that on August 18, 08, he transported the narcotic drug hemp for sale from Montenegro in a cargo vehicle with a trailer owned by a company from Podgorica. The accused bought it without authorization for the purpose of sale, packed it in PVC packaging and hid it in the rear part of the refrigerator behind the cooling part in the trailer (trailer) and with the vehicle loaded in this way set off in the direction of the border with the Republic of Serbia. Narcotic drugs were found by customs officers at the border crossing in Rožaje during the control of the accused and the vehicle he was driving," the explanation of the verdict states.

It is added that, according to the order, the first-instance High Court in Bijelo Polje correctly determined and sufficiently evaluated all facts and circumstances that have an influence on the choice of the type of criminal sanction and that are important for the punishment in this criminal case to be lower or higher.

"When sentencing the accused IS, the first-instance court correctly considered as a mitigating circumstance the fact that he is an unemployed person, expressed sincere remorse for the commission of the crime, while as an aggravating circumstance it valued his earlier life, multiple convictions, among other things, twice for the same criminal offense... then the amount of narcotic drugs that was found and seized from the accused, and he correctly sentenced him to six years and six months in prison," the decision states.

It is added that it is obvious that the previous convictions did not have an adequate effect on the accused, which is why the last sentence proves to be adequate in order to achieve the purpose of punishment and the obligation to comply with the law: "And strengthening morale and influencing the development of responsibility, which is all the accused has done so far was presented and with which he was familiar during the pronouncement of earlier convictions", the explanation of the verdict states.