A group gathered around a fugitive with a police badge, Ljubo Milović, allegedly smuggled cocaine from South America to Europe for years, and investigators found evidence that they smuggled at least three tons of the expensive white powder.
Drugs went to Europe from the port of Bar, but also via Antwerp, Germany and Turkey.
Evidence of this was provided to Montenegrin investigators by Europol, with complete transcripts of conversations conducted through the encrypted Sky ECC application.
Analyzing that evidence, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) found that Milović involved several colleagues - active and former police officers, mostly his godfathers and friends - in that criminal business.
All of them, said the "Vijesti" interlocutor, had specific roles in the clan. Allegedly, some were tasked with using their official powers to check if their colleagues who work with honor are on their trail, to raise the alarm if there is danger...
Still others are in charge of networking those they needed to put dirty money into legal channels.
15 people are in the files of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, which were submitted to the High Court yesterday
According to the same information, members of the police drug cartel met almost every day in a bar in the Zabjelo neighborhood of Podgorica. Their contacts with each other, as well as the contacts they had with others, were recorded during the months-long investigation.
One of the interlocutors of "Vijesti" said that it was determined where and "in whose name are hidden" the luxury properties of members of the police drug cartel, which they could not buy from their salaries.
The five were sent to Spuž
The investigating judge of the Podgorica High Court, Suzana Mugoša, yesterday ordered the detention of four people arrested in a major operation by the SDT and the Special Police Department (SPO) - Mileta Ojdanić from Kotor and former police special officer Vladimir Bajčeta, drug inspector from the Kotor police Milan Popović and Tihomir Adzić from Podgorica.
A day earlier, Goran Stojanović, a member of the Search Unit of the Podgorica Police, was sent to the cell.
Bajčeta's defense lawyer, Aleksa Stanković, told "Vijesta" that his client denied committing the crimes he was accused of before the judge.
High Court Public Relations Adviser Marija Raković told "Vijesta" that Judge Mugoša accepted the SDT's proposal and ordered the detention of the suspects.
Previously, the special prosecutor proposed to the court that the suspects be detained due to the danger of escape, the influence on witnesses and accomplices who are on the run, but also because of the particularly difficult way of committing the crime. The spokesperson of the SDT, prosecutor Vukas Radonjić, announced to "Vijesta" yesterday that fifteen defendants have been remanded in custody:
"RZ, Lj. M., IS, NB, MN, BJ, MM, AK, DM, FZ, IN, MO, MP, VB and TA, for the criminal offenses of creating a criminal organization, unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs, money laundering, causing general danger and illegal possession of weapons," announced Radonjić.
In addition to the arrested Ojdanić, Bajčeta, Popović, Adžić, Stojanović and Milović, the head of the organized criminal group "Kavači" - Radoje Zvicer - is said to be in that criminal team.
Fugitive cops
Head of SPO Predrag Šuković told reporters two days ago that the majority of the 17 suspects are current and former employees of the Police Directorate.
He explained that in the action, which will continue in the coming days, five suspects were arrested, that some of them were already on the run, and some were already in prison for other crimes.
Members of his team yesterday were also looking for colleagues who were carrying out the tasks of organizers of a criminal group, abusing their official position for the benefit of the clan...
An interlocutor from the investigation told "Vijesti" yesterday that escaped police officer Ivan Stamatović was the so-called head of the treasury in the police drug cartel...
"He determined how much money each policeman would get, depending on the 'service rendered,'" said one of the sources.
Stamatović is the former commander of the Podgorica police, and he was a member of the Support Team for the Sector for the Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption, while Zoran Lazović was the head of that police department.
In addition to him, the search was also yesterday, in several locations, for the suspended policeman Nebojša Bugarin, as well as Božidar Bobo Jabučanin from Cetinje, Aleksandar Klikovce from Podgorica...
"Vijesti" was told yesterday that police officers DM, MM and NM are among the suspects
Bonus video:
