A certain policeman Baković, he said to a person of security interest Vuku Vulević to get rid of his encrypted phone or at least to replace the existing account on the protected application.
Beranac received such messages on the Sky application in November 2020, a few months after the change of the thirty-year-old regime and on the eve of the initial transformations in the security sector.
The now escaped member of an organized criminal group responsible for smuggling around 2,5 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia was informed about this by his associate who wrote under the code BQVHHT.
"And yes, Baković told you to remove the crypt. Or replace her. Al' said not to wait. Baković is a policeman," was the message that Vulević received on November 20, 2020 at 10:30 a.m.
From these transcripts, it appears that Vulević is interested in why, but the interlocutor replies that he does not know.
"I don't know, he came this morning to say this - 'Tell Vuk that crypt he has with him to remove it, let him take another one,'" Vulević's colleague repeats the message from the policeman...
Apps used by millions every day to communicate provide a degree of privacy, and Sky ECC, developed by Canadian company Sky Global, is advertised as "the most secure messaging platform you can buy," according to an analysis by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
It is explained that the messages were encrypted and automatically deleted after 30 seconds, and in case the phone did not have access to the network, the message would be saved for up to 48 hours before being deleted. If the user were to enter a password for "emergency circumstances", the device would delete the contents.
After a series of raids, in early 2021, Sky was shut down. However, before that happened, in March 2021 - Belgian, Dutch and French police "hacked" Sky ECC's message encryption service, which allowed them to expose 80 million messages.
"This provided the police with valuable information about the activities of criminal groups, including those in the Western Balkans... By breaking into the messaging service, the police managed to monitor the activities of criminal groups and gather information about over a hundred planned large-scale criminal operations. .Even after the takedown of Sky ECC, investigators are still searching for information and making arrests. In Belgium alone, as of March 2022, information extracted from decrypted messages has provided evidence for 118 existing cases, leading to the opening of 276 new investigations and the identification of 888 suspects. Investigators also seized more than 90 tons of drugs with a sales value of 4,5 billion euros, as well as cash and goods worth almost 60 million euros," the text reads.
Putin says it's OK
Vulević was recently suspected of being part of a wider group in international drug trafficking, which they managed Vaso Ulic i Radoje Switzerland, claim from the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT).
In the files of that prosecution, it is stated that Vulević, together with the defendant Damir Mandić, followed the course of the implementation of the criminal plan on drug smuggling and that they discussed it on Skaj.
A month before he was ordered to destroy the number from which he writes on the encrypted program, he meets with the only person convicted of participating in the murder Duško Jovanović asked how work is going:
"'What do they say, can I do something'", and to the defendant Damir Mandić's answer: "Putin says that everything is going well, that he will send for the kangaroos soon", on which occasion when the defendant Damir Mandić says Putin, he is referring to the defendant Ivan Delić, whose is it the nickname within the PIN he used, in connection with which the defendant Vuk Vulević replies: "Well, it's good if that's the case", according to the Special Prosecutor's Office in the files against that group.
It is also stated that in the continuation of their communication, Mandić sends a message that he exchanged with a member of that group, Veselin Pavličić, who used the nickname AC/DC within the SKY account, after which Vulević tells him to inject more cocaine:
"Because he wants to do to the guys who provided them with money".
Investigators claim that this group smuggled huge amounts of cocaine on at least two occasions, and that the first one contained 1.570 kilograms.
The share of Vulević and Mandić in this was eight kilograms, according to the SDT.
"The drug was packed in individual packages weighing 25 kg, on which a certain number of packages had a stamp in the shape of a blue 'rooster', and on the remaining packages a stamp in the shape of a horseshoe with a four-leaf clover and marked RM 11, which were then placed in black bags tied with a green ribbon marked '200'", according to the investigators.
It is explained that the largest percentage in that business belonged to Vas Ulic and Leon and Viktor Drešaj - 500 kilograms, Radul Božović 100 kg, Milo Božović i Petar Miranović 10 kg, Vjekoslav Lambulić, 35 kg, Vukana Matić Čokovića and NN to a person with the nickname 'Lika' 300 kg:
"While the remaining part of the intoxicating drug cocaine is the share of the defendants Pavličić Veselin, Part of Ivan, Pavličević Dragana, Mileta Božović and other NGO's", it is stated in SDT documents.
In the international action "General", investigators from the SDT and the Special Police Department (SPO) worked closely for months with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
"The subject of the criminal complaint is the activity of a criminal organization organized by the suspects VU and RZ, and whose members became other suspects, in the international framework, with the aim of smuggling the narcotic drug cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia, by ship, in the amount of 1.570 kg , in October 2020, which was intercepted by the detection authorities of Colombia and in the amount of about 900 kg, in June 2021, which was intercepted by the detection authorities of Australia", according to the announcement of the SDT dated July 17, signed by the special prosecutor Vukasa Radonjić.
They seized 700 kg, the smugglers set the rest on fire
About 1.500 kilograms of cocaine, in the period from October 27 to October 29, were transported by vessels to the location agreed upon by Vaso Ulić, Mileta Božović and an unknown person with the nickname "Felix"...
"And for the purpose of transshipment of the said narcotic drug into a vessel - a ship, owned by a person with the nickname 'Felix', and to the location that the defendant Božović Mileta and the NN person marked with "4N. 80 W", for its further transmission in the direction of Australia, so that on 28/29.10.2020. year, during the transfer of narcotic drugs to a ship owned by an unknown person with the nickname "Felix", the competent authorities of Colombia and the USA found and confiscated 710 kg of the narcotic drug cocaine that was on one of the vessels, while the rest of the narcotic drug that was on another vessel thrown away and set on fire, and the competent authorities of Colombia in connection with the event in question deprived them of their freedom and initiated criminal proceedings against four persons", according to the SDT.
Cocaine and drug soldiers
Almost all the defendants in the "General" case have been in the records of the Montenegrin security services for years, and the Serious and Organized Crime Risk Assessment (SOCTA) document states that cocaine smuggling is the main business for most.
"The Tuzana clan - brothers Leon and Viktor Drešaj - is also involved in cocaine smuggling, with the fact that it is not their primary activity, but the smuggling of marijuana, tobacco and tobacco products. OKG from Rožaj, which is managed by Safet Kalić, predominantly switched to the business of marijuana smuggling, and the Vasa Ulić clan, which pulls the strings from Podgorica, predominantly specialized in international smuggling of synthetic drugs. Another clan from Rožaj, whose leader is Asmir Kalač, was recorded to be the most active in heroin smuggling, while the Beranc clan of Vuk Vulević was linked to the execution of blood offenses and the distribution of narcotics," said a "Vijesti" source from the security sector as early as 2022.
Allegedly, in the secret part of the document, which was prepared by an interdepartmental team that included representatives of the intelligence sector, the Police Directorate and the Prosecutor's Office, it was recorded that apart from the two most dangerous clans - "Kavači" and "Škaljari", which number hundreds of soldiers, other criminal- groups have at least 30 members each.
Bonus video:
