The Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Podgorica has ordered the detention of Aleksandar Marković from Podgorica for up to 72 hours on suspicion that he set fire to a vehicle in November 2022, as well as detonating an explosive device in a public area, the ODT in Podgorica announced today.
"The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica has ordered the detention of AM from Podgorica for up to 72 hours due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that he committed the extended criminal offense of causing general danger. It is suspected that AM, in two separate incidents during November 2022, caused a fire in a passenger motor vehicle, as well as activated an explosive device in a public area, which caused material damage to surrounding buildings," the statement states.
The Podgorica State Prosecutor's Office added that the detention was ordered due to the risk of flight, because AM had previously been in hiding, as well as due to the risk of repeating the criminal offense, bearing in mind that he had previously been convicted and that proceedings were being conducted against him for another criminal offense.
Marković (37), who the police had been searching for for three years, was arrested yesterday in Podgorica after, as the Police Directorate stated yesterday, months of thorough planning, a targeted search and operational work.
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They explained that this member of a high-risk organized crime group was "located and in a tactically precise action" deprived of his liberty.
"He had been on the run for several years, and was wanted on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of causing general danger for an extended period. Namely, it is suspected that on November 2, 2022, at around 00:20 on Serdara Jola Piletića Street, AM caused a fire in a 'Range Rover' passenger motor vehicle with Nikšić license plates by using a flammable liquid and a suitable means. On this occasion, major material damage was caused to the vehicle," the UP announced.
Then Julijana Delibašić's car was set on fire.
They add that Marković is suspected of having participated, together with F. Đ., in detonating an explosive device in front of a restaurant on George Washington Boulevard on November 23, 2022, at around 1:50 a.m.:
"The detonation of which caused damage to the aforementioned facility, as well as to several facilities located in the immediate vicinity."
"By undertaking specific, targeted, coordinated activities and months of operational work, police officers from the Podgorica Security Department located this person and deprived him of his liberty after three years of being on the run, and he will be brought before the acting prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica for further jurisdiction within the legally prescribed period," the police statement reads.
They say they continue to take intensive measures and actions aimed at locating all persons wanted both nationally and internationally, with a focus on members of high-risk organized crime groups, their close associates and persons of operational interest.
In December 2016, the Court of Appeals upheld the first-instance verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica, which sentenced Marković and Michael Gregory Ferraris to six and five years in prison, respectively, for the crime of creating a criminal organization.
The two were arrested in 2015, and that action prevented a mafia liquidation.
"These two members of the criminal organization - the accused Ferraris and the accused Marković - were discovered on May 25, 2015, during the inspection of a vehicle with forged license plates driven by the accused Ferraris, and in connection with this, the apartment that the accused Ferraris was temporarily using in Budva was searched, in which plans were found to commit the criminal offense of murder against the owner of the restaurant, who was the planned 'target' for liquidation," the verdict states.
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