Members of the Kavač clan are interested in purchasing valuables from Tito's former residence Lovćenka in Meljine, and for this purpose they have hired a businessman from Cetinje to complete the job on their behalf, according to sources from the security sector for "Vijesti".
One of the newspaper's interlocutors says that the Cetinje native, at the suggestion of certain individuals, expressed interest in trading a large quantity of this treasure - about 90 kilograms of antiques made of silver and ivory, i.e. dishes, paintings and other works of art...
"He is just an extended arm in this business. These valuables can be sold at a high price on the market," a source told "Vijesti".
It was also said that secret agents simultaneously learned that small inventory had been removed from Tito's former residence for years - jars, copper, paintings...
Allegedly, among those who are operationally suspected of stealing valuables are several people who were employed at Meljine Hospital at the time of the privatization of that health care institution and those who had unlimited access to the villa.
According to one of the interviewees, the public police were also informed of this information...
"Given the positions they held, it is important to investigate whether these individuals, through abuse of official position and theft, obtained illegal benefits," said the newspaper's source.
The Police Directorate has not responded to questions about whether they are investigating the disappearance of valuables and inventory from Tito's former residence, Lovćenka, in Meljine...
"If so, when was that investigation opened? Has it been determined what was missing from that facility and what is the estimated value of the missing items? Have any of the former employees been questioned in that investigation," questions were sent to the UP, which were not answered.
Villa Lovćenka, the residence of the lifelong president of the former SFRY, Josip Broz Tito, is located within the grounds of the General Hospital in Meljine.
The building with four luxury apartments was built in the early 1980s, at the same time as the villa "Galeb" in Igalo - as Tito's second residence.
However, he never stayed there, but the villa hosted sessions of the Supreme Defense Council of the SFRY, later the FRY.
The villa was used for the rest of the republican and federal political and military leaders.
Among the "more prominent" guests were Boris Tadic i Nebojsa Pavković, then Minister of Defense of the FRY, former Acting President of Serbia Nataša Micić, leaders of the Military Medical Academy from Belgrade and several foreign statesmen.
The complex in which the Center for Military Medical Institutions in Meljine is located was sold in 2008 to a consortium led by the Atlas Group for around 5,6 million euros.
In 2013, the villa was leased to the Azmont company from Azerbaijan for three years.
The villa housed the "Azmont Studio Center", and the architectural and design company "Harper Downie" from London, a partner of "Azmont" on the project of the Portonovi tourist complex, on the site of the former military barracks in Kumbor, worked there.
"Vijesti" announced at the time that the complex's design envisaged the demolition of the Lovćenka villa due to, as explained, "the instability and sliding of the terrain."
According to the contract, the Meljine complex was supposed to be completed in two years, but that did not happen.
Villa Lovćenka remains one of the forgotten artifacts of the former Yugoslavia - built as a symbol of state power and luxury, and now left to oblivion.
Residences scattered throughout the former Yugoslavia
Tito's residences were scattered throughout the former Yugoslavia - from Brioni and Kupar, through Karađorđevo and Lake Bled, to Igalo, Meljine and other hidden coves on the Adriatic.
They were built as discreet but luxurious points of power: with private beaches, cinemas, hunting grounds, swimming pools, special yacht docks and helipads, far from the public eye, yet close to key points of politics and security.
Not only holidays and receptions were held there, but also the most important meetings of the Yugoslav party and military leadership, quiet meetings with world statesmen, and agreements that were rarely recorded in the minutes.
Luxury was reflected in expensive furniture, artwork, crystal and porcelain, but also in specially trained staff and top-notch logistics that accompanied every trip.
The paradox of Tito's villas is that he almost never set foot in some of them – they were completed late, built "just in case" or only occasionally used by other officials.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, some of these buildings became hotels, some were leased to investors, and many remained trapped between transition, privatization, and oblivion, transformed into silent monuments to a final edition of the Yugoslav dream of power, luxury, and uniqueness.
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