The suspect Srđan Jokić spent only ten days in custody in Skopje after his new arrest and the opening of another investigation by the Special State Prosecutor's Office, on suspicion that he was involved in cigarette smuggling.
"Jokić's detention was lifted on Monday, after which he left UIKS," the institution unofficially told "Vijesti".
The investigating judge ordered custody against Jokić in the new case, but the High Court panel overturned that decision.
Independent Public Relations Advisor of the Higher Court, Ivana Vukmirović, confirmed to Vijesti that the council had revised the decision of the investigating judge and terminated Jokić's detention.
The Higher Court in Podgorica in early July accepted bail of 557.445 euros for defendant Srđan Jokić, whom the Special State Prosecutor's Office accuses of being part of Saša Pekić's criminal organization, which is believed to have damaged the state by 17,5 million euros through cigarette smuggling.
After the court accepted bail, Jokić was released from custody, in which he had been held since December 27, 2024, when officers of the Special Police Department, acting on the orders of the SDT, carried out an operation to arrest nine people, who are believed to have been an important link in the smuggling chain for years.
While the paperwork for registering the mortgage on the real estate, which was pledged as collateral for the termination of the detention, was being completed, Jokić remained in detention for several more days, and then, upon his release from UIKS, he was arrested again after the Special State Prosecutor's Office opened a new investigation against him on suspicion of cigarette smuggling.
The defendants in the first case had their detention extended after being served with the indictment at the end of June, but after the defense attorney appealed, the decision for Jokić was reversed and bail was accepted.
The SDT filed an indictment against the accused group organizer Saša Pekić, Srđan Jokić, Goran Janketić, Dragan Backović, Predrag Mijušković, Predrag Vučurović, Nikola Glomazić and brothers Petar and Mirko Cicmil, due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and the continued criminal offense of smuggling.
The prosecution requested an extension of their detention with the indictment, but despite that request, and just a few days after the filing of the act, the High Court accepted bail for Srđan Jokić.
The defendants Backović and Jokić are also charged with the criminal offense of money laundering, and the defendants police officers Backović, Vučurović and Mijušković are also charged with the extended criminal offense of money laundering, and the defendants police officers Backović, Vučurović and Mijušković are also charged with the extended criminal offense of abuse of official position.
After the indictment was delivered, the SDT announced that it relates to the activities of a criminal organization formed by Pekić, whose members included Jokić, Janketić and Backović and other unknown persons, and the activities of a criminal organization formed by the accused brothers Cicmil and Backović, whose members included Vučurović, Mijušković and Glomazić.
Special prosecutors have determined that the two criminal organizations have been working closely together for years.
"The criminal organization of the defendant SP purchased untaxed cigarettes and sold them to the criminal organization PC, MC and DB and other unknown buyers, so that the criminal organization of the defendants PC, MC and DB would further sell the purchased untaxed cigarettes to unknown buyers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the defendants DB, PV and PM, using their official positions as officers of the Police Administration of Montenegro, enabled both criminal organizations to engage in smuggling and also to launder money from illegal profits gained from the sale of smuggled untaxed cigarettes," the SDT states.
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