Beranac Željko Boričić (49), a member of the Police Directorate residing in Podgorica, was sentenced today at the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje to one year and four months in prison for the criminal offense of "unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs".
He was charged with producing hemp in his family home in artificial conditions, in a specialized laboratory in the basement of his family home, between April and June 2024, where 36 plants and 21.170 grams of dried plant matter were found.
The indictment of the Higher State Prosecutor's Office states that in the basement of the house, which is owned by the defendant and his brother, he first planted hemp seeds in plastic bowls with soil, creating controlled conditions - natural light, heat and humidity, treating them with various chemical preparations so that they sprouted into plants.
"After that, he transferred and planted 36 sprouted green plants in prepared soil on plot number 5141, which is owned by him, with the intention of cutting and drying them for unauthorized sale. The plants were found by officers of the Berane Security Department on June 30 last year," the indictment states.
During the trial, the defendant said that he does not live in that house and that he occasionally goes to that facility and that he knows nothing about who planted the hemp, explaining that he does not know who planted it in the land, which is located about two kilometers from the family home.
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In her closing arguments, prosecutor Vanja Rakonjac said that all the evidence presented unequivocally established that the defendant committed the crime he was charged with, while attorney Vidomir Bošković requested an acquittal, highlighting the fact that the defendant's DNA was not found in the laboratory, on other objects, or on the hemp stalks. He also recalled the defendant's statement that the house was not only his property and that he did not live in it, but that he came there occasionally.
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