All the pillars on which, as is believed, the extensive chain of cigarette smuggling through the Port of Bar to European Union countries rested for years are included in the investigations of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), on whose orders almost all key links in the smuggling pyramid have been arrested since the end of 2023.
SDT believes that this smuggling business, which operated for years in several branches and at multiple levels through the Free Zone of the Port of Bar, has caused the state of Montenegro hundreds of millions of euros in damage.
The investigation into smuggling routes began in late 2022, when the Special Police Department (SPO), on the orders of the SDT, seized all documentation from the Port of Bar on the entry and exit of ships during 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, because, as they claim, cigarettes delivered in containers to the Montenegrin coast actually ended up in the hands of smugglers.
Due to the extensive documentation taken at the Port of Bar, as well as the evidentiary material that the SDT and SPO received from EUROPOL, this smuggling pyramid, which had shared logistics, is being investigated in several separate investigations, on which several special prosecutors have been working for months.
The first attack on the tobacco mafia began towards the end of 2023 with the arrest of the owner of the Bar company "Playmaker" Đorđija Đok Pavićević, after which two separate investigations last year implicated the businessman Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović and from Podgorica Sasa Pekic.
A new investigation was opened yesterday when the owner of the company "Tehnomax" was arrested at Podgorica airport upon arrival in Montenegro. Vesko Petranović.
By order of the state prosecutor assigned to the SDT Sinisa MilićYesterday, SPO officers arrested six more people, in addition to Vesko Petranović, who are believed to have played an important role in organizing smuggling routes.
As in previous investigations into cigarette smuggling, the SPO arrested colleagues from the Police Directorate system yesterday.
During the day, at the special police unit camp in Zlatica, handcuffs were placed on members of the Special Police Unit. Dražen Vukadinović and Davor Lukačević, and the inspector of the Search Service of the Podgorica Military Police was also deprived of his liberty Marko Đurišić.
As part of this case, he was also arrested. Dejan Jokic, who was also deprived of his liberty in February last year by order of the SDT, on suspicion of being part of a criminal organization, which, as is believed, was formed by businessman Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović.
In this case, as "Vijesti" has learned, residents of Podgorica were also arrested. Branko Celic i Ratomir Obrenic, who are suspected of having played a role in cigarette smuggling from the Port of Bar, through Montenegro to EU countries.
The SPO is looking for several more people in this case.
While working on this case, the SDT and SPO came to a reasonable suspicion that the accused members of this criminal organization managed to organize numerous cigarette smuggling routes, the value of which is estimated at several tens of millions of euros.
SDT believes that the owner of the company "Tehnomax" Vesko Petranović was involved in providing logistics for the transport of cigarettes, which were taken from the warehouse of the Free Zone of the Port of Bar through smuggling channels.
At the end of 2024, his business associate Saša Pekić, who was previously a co-owner of the company "Tehnomax", was arrested on the orders of the SDT.
Police officers were also arrested with Pekić. Predrag Vucurovic, Dragan Backovic i Predrag Mijušković, a businessman Srdjan Jokic, from Podgorica Goran Janketić i Nikola Glomazic from Plužine, and after ten days the brothers from Plužine also surrendered. Marko i Petar Cicmil.
The smuggling scheme is believed to involve the company "Playmaker" of defendant Đorđi Đok Pavićević, with the help of suspected customs officers. Ivan Kovačević i Veljko Đuričić, as well as two companies from the Philippines and Panama, were tasked with falsifying documentation for the fictitious export of cigarettes from Montenegro to numerous ports in the Mediterranean.
Numerous containers of cigarettes from the Port of Bar were never loaded onto ships that sailed to the Montenegrin coast. It is suspected that false documentation was created for fictitious exports, and in fact, packages of cigarettes from port warehouses ended up in the hands of smugglers by truck.
According to the SDT files, suspect Aleksandar Aco Mijajlović, who is defending himself from freedom, ordered, purchased and organized the transport of at least 60.000 packs of cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates in a year, which then ended up on the illegal market in Montenegro and other countries via the port of Bar.
The orders, as stated in the SDT files, were practically agreed on a monthly basis, and the first one for which special prosecutors allegedly have evidence, occurred on November 19, 2019 - when Mijajlović purchased a total of 4.760 packages, as follows: 2.412 packages of "Trokadrero slim blue" cigarettes, 88 packages of "FM pink slim", 1.000 packages of "FM red" cigarettes, 723 packages of "FM blue slim" and 537 packages of "FM red slim"...
"He transported the marked cigarettes by sea to the Port of Bar and stored them in a free customs zone, after which the defendant, together with Dejan Jokić, as well as other now unknown members of the criminal organization, on several occasions, implementing a criminal plan, took them out of the customs warehouse in an unspecified manner and transferred them across the customs line, avoiding customs supervision measures... All with the intention of further selling and distributing them in the customs territory of Montenegro and other countries," the SDT states in that case.
Last year, the SDT also named police officers as members of an organized crime group, whose organizer was Mijajlović. Dragan Backović, Milenko Mića Rabrenović, Radoje Rabrenović i Mirko Mijušković, then Golub Vojinović, Dejan Jokić, Zoran Žuto Đukanović, Milan Vukadinović i Mile Simanić...
Assets are awaiting blocking
While working on investigations into cases against the tobacco mafia, the Special State Prosecutor's Office also opened numerous financial investigations against members of criminal organizations.
In the financial investigation case against suspect Saša Pekić, by a decision of the Higher Court, and on the order of the SDT, valuable property in Podgorica, Crmnica, the coast...
At the end of 2024 and in the first days of this year, a temporary record was entered by order of the SDT - a ban on the disposal of 12 apartments, nine business premises, ten garages and two non-residential premises, registered to Pekić and his family members.
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 and Dejan Jokić, who were arrested today.
This trio has also had joint construction projects on the coast in the past few years.
The company "Tehnomax", founded in 2004, has as many as 17 retail stores selling white goods and built-in appliances, TVs, computers, telephones...
In 2017, the company was the winner 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 three years of complete reconstruction, they opened a new one under the name "DeAndros".
Judging by the SDT's previous order of actions, it is believed that a lien will be placed on the property of suspect Petranović in the next few days.
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