Petranović and team accused of smuggling at least 9.094 packs of cigarettes

​​​​​​The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) has accused the owner of the company "Tehnomax" Vesko Petranović and his team of smuggling at least 9.094 packs of cigarettes, causing the state at least seven million euros in damage.

At the same time, the SDT also launched a financial investigation, with the aim of permanently confiscating the proceeds of crime.

The prosecutor's office announced that an indictment had been filed against Petranović, Dejan Jokić, police officers Marko Đurišić, Dušan and Dražen Vukadinović and Davor Lukačević, as well as Branko Čelić, Ratomir Obrenić and Jovan Miletić.

Petranović, Jokić, two Vukadinovićs, Miletić, Čelić, Obrenić, Lukaćević and Đurišić are charged with creating a criminal organization, and Petranović, the Vukadinović brothers, Miletić, Čelić, Đurišić, Jokić and Obrenić are also charged with the continued criminal offense of smuggling, committed as co-perpetrators.

"The indictment charges the defendants with having, in the period from mid-2019 to the end of October 2020, become members of a criminal organization organized in Montenegro by the defendant VP, which continuously engaged in the sale, distribution and concealment of untaxed cigarettes in the amount of at least 9.094 packages, purchased abroad, and thus obtained material gain for itself by not paying customs duties, excise duties and taxes, and caused damage to the budget of Montenegro in the amount of at least 7.184.132,55 euros. The indictment proposes that the detention of the defendants VP, DJ, DV, B.Č., DL and M.Đ. be extended, and that the defendant DV, who is on the run, be tried in absentia, while the defendant JM is already in custody at the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, in another criminal case, and the defendant RO defended himself from freedom during the investigation proceedings," the SDT announced.