The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) determines who is with Aleksandar Ac Mijajlović the second head of the criminal organization from Grand, informed the News from unofficial sources.
In the files of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), which manages the case, it is stated that the members of that organized group smuggled cigarettes internationally for at least three years - from 2019 to the end of 2021.
"Mijajlović and another person, according to the available evidence, created that organization in 2019," claims the newspaper's interlocutor.
According to that information, correspondence from the encrypted Sky phone application, in which, according to the investigators, the arrested participated, is said to be among the data forwarded from Europol. Some of their lawyers denied the claims.
Arrest of Rabrenović (video: Boris Pejović)
A months-long action by the SDT resulted in the arrest, as insiders claim, of the very top of the so-called Grand clan, with Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović at its head.
Detention of Rogač (video: Boris Pejović)
The operation by members of the Special Police Department (SPO) began on Monday, when eight people were detained. Three more suspects were then handcuffed yesterday.
Mijajlovic was arrested, followed by police officers, on charges of creating a criminal organization and smuggling Milenko Mića Rabrenović, Radoje Rabrenović, Dragan Backovic i Mirko Mijušković, then Dejan Jokic, Golub Vojinović, Milan Vukadinović, Zoran Žuti Đukanović, Milan Rogač i Mileta Simanić.
In addition to the second organizer, according to information from Vijesti, investigators are looking for several other persons who participated in that illegal business, and who are now listed as unknown persons in the prosecutor's files.
Most of the arrested yesterday were heard in the Special State Prosecutor's Office, after which they were given a special prosecutor Miroslav Turković determined a detention of up to 72 hours. Within that period, they must be brought before an investigating judge, who will decide on the request to order them into custody.
Simanić was also arrested in the middle of last year for cigarette smuggling, and the SDT then accused him of being part of a criminal group formed by Ivan Mićković from Nikšić.
Held so they don't escape
Mijajlović's legal representative, lawyer Zoran Piperović, said that his client denied guilt, and that he will be detained, after which he will be brought before a judge for investigation in the High Court.
"Aleksandar completely denied committing the crime, and that's it. He said that it is unknown to him and that there are no points of contact, we will see in the further course of the procedure how things will develop. What was read to him was a total unknown to him. I know that this will hurt someone, especially someone who has been spreading since last night and drowning Montenegrin public opinion and the people, you know who I mean, I won't mention his name, but mostly that's it, and what is said, I trust my employer, friend and client," said Piperović.
The arrested businessman Dejan Jokić also denied the crime, his legal representative, a lawyer, told Vijest Danilo Micovic.
"My client categorically denied participation in any criminal activities, both in terms of criminal offenses of smuggling, and in terms of membership in a criminal organization," Micović said.
He added that he could not talk about the details of the case, because it was classified as classified.
And Golub Vojinović denied the accusations brought against him by the SDT, his defense attorney, a lawyer, told Vijesti Bojan Korac, stressing that due to the secrecy label, he cannot give details of the case.
"My client denied committing a criminal offense and being a member of a criminal organization," Korać said.
Ships arriving from the UAE
A source close to the investigation told Vijesti that special prosecutors suspect a group gathered around Mijajlovic and one other, so far unidentified person, that they delivered ships of cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates to the port of Bar, which they then smuggled.
Allegedly, upon arrival at the port, the cigarettes were placed in warehouses in the Free Customs Zone.
"A part of it was placed on the gray market in the territory of Montenegro through illegal channels. Most of it is smuggled to neighboring countries", said the same interlocutor.
Some of the suspected police officers are accused by SDT of "covering" the route by which members of the Grand team transported cigarettes from the port of Bar to secret locations in Podgorica and surrounding towns, as well as to border crossings.
Special prosecutor and spokesperson of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) Vukas Radonjic, after the day before yesterday's arrest, explained to the News that the action was carried out in cooperation with the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Law Enforcement Authorities (EUROPOL), which for years has been providing local investigators with material on the basis of which dozens of people allegedly connected to organized crime were arrested.
The so-called Grand Clan was labeled by several officials of the previous government as the main cigarette smugglers:
"These people are at the head of the criminal pyramid," said the former prime minister Dritan Abazović, after it was sold by the company Bemax, its owner Ranko Ubović, Mijajlovic and a former security guard Zoran Lazovic sued for defamation because he labeled them criminals.
Mijajlović's name is not officially in the Bemax company, although he has been known for years as a co-owner of that construction giant.
However, he is the director of the company "Alec Montenegro", whose founder is Bemax. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the company "Arena B", whose founder is also officially Ubović's company. He is an authorized representative of the company "S & I INVEST", whose owner is also Bemax.
Seized luxury four-wheelers
Several luxury cars and one four-wheeler were confiscated by the police in the operation to arrest suspects for cigarette smuggling.
Yesterday, those means of transport were loaded onto a tow truck in front of the premises of the Special Police Department and moved to another location, where they will be examined.
Video: Boris Pejović
Video: Boris Pejović
Video: Boris Pejović
Video: Boris Pejović
"Proof that criminal groups managed election processes"
Commenting on the arrest of suspects for cigarette smuggling, the president of the Club of Deputies of Democratic Montenegro, Boris Bogdanovic, announced that a significant operation directed against key figures in the smuggling network clearly shows that there is no place for the protected and privileged in Montenegro.
He specifically referred to the arrest of Zoran Đukanović aka Žuti:
"Who in Nikšić, during the local election campaign, led the attack on Krsto Radović and other officials of Democratic Montenegro, who miraculously was not prosecuted at the time, but the opposite was claimed, i.e. that Krsto Radović attacked Zoran Đukanović, who is now suspected of committing serious crimes. This fact is the best witness of the time in which we acted and functioned as the opposition, and that organized criminal groups then managed the election processes", said Bogdanović.
From Mojkovac to Grand
Long-time policeman Milenko Rabrenović was for a time in charge of security for Veselin Veljović, while this Mojkovo resident was the head of the Police Directorate in his first term.
Rabrenović was on trial due to accusations that in February 2011 he sent monstrous threats to the then-journalist "Vijesti" Olivera Lakić and her family.
He was acquitted in the court proceedings, and such a decision was made by the judge of the Basic Court in Podgorica Larisa Mijušković Stamatović.
She based the verdict on the opinion of a telecommunications expert Dear Boljević, who "suddenly changed the basic finding during the procedure, where he first claimed that the same person used telephone devices and cards in the same time interval, from which threatening calls and messages were sent on February 9 and 10, 2011".
Journalist Lakić was threatened while she was publishing articles about the smuggling of cigarettes from the Tara factory in Mojkovac to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia, and suspicions that high-ranking police and ANB officials were involved in that business...
From the first day when the threats began, Lakić claimed that they were coming from the very top of the police force, because on the same day when the threatening messages were sent to her, Veselin Veljović sent a "courier" to "ask" her not to write about the factory.
When she refused, the same evening she was threatened with an attack on the child.
Former police chief Veselin Veljović was arrested on July 24 last year on suspicion that he was part of the criminal organization of fugitive Aleksandar Mrkić, and that he gave official information to members of that clan, which is believed to have been engaged in cigarette smuggling. The SDT submitted an indictment against that criminal organization on January 24 of this year, which is still pending review before the panel of the High Court in Podgorica.
Bonus video:
