Major operation against tobacco mafia: Vesko Petranović and three police officers arrested

The owner of the company "Tehnomax" Vesko Petranović was arrested at Podgorica Airport.

This was confirmed to Vijesti by multiple sources from the Police Directorate and also from Podgorica Airport.

According to this information, after exiting the plane in the airport building, Petranović was surrounded by inspectors whose jackets read SPO (Special Police Department).

As part of this operation, three Police Directorate officers were arrested during the day, on the orders of the SDT.

According to Vijesti, Marko Đurišić, an officer of the Podgorica Military Police Search Service, was arrested, as well as two police officers at the Special Police Unit camp - Dražen Vukadinović and Davor Lukačević.

During the day, SPO officers, acting on the orders of the SDT, also arrested Dejan Jokić, a resident of Podgorica, who was also arrested in February this year on suspicion of having played an important role in cigarette smuggling in a criminal organization that the prosecution believes was organized by businessman Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović.

SDT believes that the criminal organization, allegedly headed by Aco Mijajlović, ordered at least 60.000 packs of cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates in less than a year, worth over 100 million euros, which then ended up on the illegal market in Montenegro and other countries via the port of Bar.

This case of the SDT and SPO, which was completed in several stages, was opened based on months of coordinated action with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation - EUROPOL.

In addition to the evidence that the SDT and SPO obtained through international legal assistance, during the work on this case, numerous other pieces of evidence were found that show how the smuggling chain functioned. In the first crackdown by the SDT against the tobacco mafia, police officers Dragan Backović, Milenko Mića Rabrenović, Radoje Rabrenović and Mirko Mijušković were arrested last year, and Golub Vojinović, Zoran Žuti Đukanović were also deprived of their liberty...

This is a new blow by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and the SPO against key pillars in a multi-year cigarette smuggling scheme.

According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", a major operation by SDT and SPO against key links in the tobacco mafia is underway.

In addition to Petranović, according to Vijesti, several other people were arrested, who are believed to have played an important role in this case.

They are charged with the crime of creating a criminal organization.

As part of this operation at the end of last year, the unofficial owner of "Tehnomax" Saša Pekić was arrested, and police officers Predrag Vučurović, Dragan Backović and Predrag Mijušković, businessman Srđan Jokić, Goran Janketić from Podgorica and Nikola Glomazić from Pluzine were arrested at that time.

The new strike followed months of work to gather evidence against the most important pillars of the multi-year, international cigarette smuggling scheme through Port Bar.

About ten days later, the Cicmil brothers from Pluzine - Mirko and Petar, who were being sought by the police on suspicion of being part of the smuggling chain of cigarettes from the Port of Bar, through Montenegro and on to Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU countries, came to the SPO and surrendered.

In parallel with the opening of an investigation into this important case, the SDT also opened a financial investigation against members of this criminal organization.

At the end of 2024 and in the first days of this year, by order of the SDT, a large amount of the suspect Saša Pekić's property was blocked, and by a decision of the Higher Court in Podgorica, a ban on the disposal of 12 properties, nine business premises, ten garages and two non-residential premises, registered to him and his close family members, was entered.

Most of the property registered to Pekić, as seen in the records of the Real Estate Administration, is on the same cadastral plots as the property of Vesko Petranović, who was arrested today.

Several plots of land, meadows and a family house in Zabjelo have been blocked from Pekić, and in addition to him, the official owner of "Tehnomax" Vesko Petranović is also listed as co-owner of part of the property on the same cadastral plot in the Pod Ljubović settlement.

Vesko Petranović is the owner and founder of the company "Tehnomax", which has 17 retail stores selling white goods and built-in appliances, TVs, computers, telephones...

The company with 270 employees was founded in 2004, and in 2017 they were the winners of the prestigious award for the best company in Montenegro, chosen by the Chamber of Commerce.

Five years ago, Petranović's company expanded its business to tourism - they bought the old "13 Jul" hotel in Virpazar, where after 3 years of complete reconstruction, they opened a new one under the name "DeAndros".