A criminal group linked to the police drug cartel had an elaborate and multi-layered cigarette smuggling scheme - the documentation was "laundered" in Rotterdam, while containers loaded with tobacco products sailed to the Port of Bar, from where they ended up on the black market throughout Europe. In this business, as well as in the drug smuggling business, they were assisted by a customs officer in Rotterdam and the commander of the border police on the water in that Dutch port.
This is shown by correspondence conducted through the once protected Sky application, which clearly shows that the most important part of this criminal operation was the administrative "covering" of the goods.
Members of that criminal group, hidden behind nicknames Asterix i A cyclist, reveal that after customs clearance in Rotterdam, the containers were formally registered as transit goods, but also that, although they physically entered the Port of Bar, the cigarettes were not cleared through customs in Montenegro, but were, with T1 documentation, further transported by trucks to European Union countries.
The interlocutors repeatedly emphasize in their messages that "everything is covered by papers", that "there is no extraction" or theft, and that this is a scheme in which the goods are treated as legal until the moment of unloading at a pre-arranged destination.
From their communication in the last days of 2020, it appears that the cigarettes ended up on the illegal market.
The messages they exchange show that they are discussing quantities, types of cigarettes, prices per carton, the existing sales network in several European countries, but also that logistics have already been worked out, that trucks are regularly transporting goods, and that individuals with influence in customs and border structures in Rotterdam are involved in the scheme.
“See what and how for these cigars. Details. We can send Tebroni as many as you want,” Asterix wrote on December 8, 2020 to a member of the criminal group who was writing from behind the Skynik Biker.
From the communication of several members of the Kavač clan, it emerges that the Biker is their trusted man, that he regularly takes over dirty money and drugs...
He promises his interlocutor that he will inquire, and then sends his entire correspondence with him to associates in the criminal network, so that they can organize tobacco smuggling in addition to cocaine smuggling.
Asterix replies that "my people have a debt settlement facility in Rotterdam and a bonded warehouse"...
This member of the criminal team emphasizes to him that his men "can send as many cigars and types as they want", and the Biker tells him that he needs to see the prices and profits...
“1000 euros is a card there,” Asterix replies, after which he receives a message about how the team the Cyclist is part of functions:
"Brother, is that from Dubai, which ones can you send? Brother, it's a debt settlement paper in Rotterdam, and it comes to Bar, and then by truck to where it needs to be, and they finish the papers in Rotterdam, it explains itself to me."
Asterix then asks where the cigarettes are unloaded in Bar and gets an answer.
"Well, wherever you want, it's all covered with papers, they do the debt relief in Rotterdam, and they send it to Bar, and from there on the truck."
The two of them are also discussing whether it is possible to unload the cigarettes directly in Rotterdam, which is what interested Asterix, because, as he writes, there is also a sale there for cigarettes arriving from Dubai.
Then he discovers that they are already smuggling through Bar, but that it is more profitable if they have an option in Europe: "There is everything in Tebrini. They usually export to Bar. But it is more profitable if there is somewhere in Europe"...
"There's nothing to take out, brother, they come out regularly and get on the truck regularly. There's a T1 and everything and the truck goes to Europe with the cigars... Well, I'm telling you, everything is covered with papers... One is a customs officer in Rotterdam, the other is the commander of the border police on the water in Rotterdam. I have to meet with people, if you have a sale, tell me how much, how much, and where, because those guys like the ones we have in transit, they come to Bar with cigars, they get a T1 paper, they go to the Netherlands where we have the sale, it ends, we are regular until we unload them somewhere. We have a sale in Rotterdam, for example, and in Rotterdam it ends up in Beirut, for example," the Biker explained to him.
Asterix promises to report on the same day how many and where he has sold cigars, and that he will report back "today...when I sit down with them" and writes to his interlocutor that he understands how his team works.
The cyclist further clarifies: "There's no extraction, and that's where they unload. No theft, nothing. Redirection, buyer in Greece for example, papers discharged, we unloaded, there's nothing there," he writes, adding that the team explained to him that it had to be that way.
"... It has to be this way because it's the logical route, and they end up wherever they want in the EU"...
In the following days, they specify that the container must be "45 feet" large, that they "do some paperwork for detention and transit" and that they "wash the papers," and then the Biker explains:
"They're looking for 300 thousand per container... 1.350 packages fit in it"...
Messages exchanged with other members of the criminal clan show that Asterix arranged the cigarette smuggling deal with a man from Budva. Mile Ojdanić...
Correspondence from the once-protected Sky application, which was provided to Montenegrin investigative authorities through international legal assistance, has for years been key evidence in cases against members of Montenegrin organized crime groups.
Several indictments by the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) also charge individuals from the security system - high-ranking officials from the Police Directorate, the Special Prosecutor's Office, and the Customs Directorate - with working for the mafia.
One of the indictments, filed against the so-called police drug cartel, includes former and active police officers. Ljubo Milović (42), Mileta Ojdanić (53), Ivan Stamatović (42) Nebojša Bulgarian (45) Petar Lazovic (35) Marko Novakovic (39) Milan Popovic (42) Miloš Mišurović (43) Vladimir Bajčeta (45) Goran Stojanovic (42) Dejan Knezevic (52) and Darko Knezevic (46) that they collaborated in criminal affairs with the former president of the Municipality of Budva Milo Božović (48), head of the Kavac clan Radoj Zvicer (43) and Božidar Jabučanin (48) Aleksandar Keković (33) Dražen Milović (38) Filip Zindović (36) whose last name was earlier Kljajevic, Ivan Nikolić (39) Tihomir Adzić (40) Ivan Mijatović (40) and more unidentified persons...
Individuals in that crime team are accused of having, on the orders of Milović and Ojdanić, organized the smuggling of cocaine from Ecuador to the countries of the European Union and Turkey, transported money obtained from cocaine to Serbia and Montenegro, but also used violence and intimidated other persons, acquired large quantities of weapons and explosive substances... influenced the appointment of persons close to them to leadership positions in the Police Directorate in order to obtain classified information and other important information, but also that they with the money acquired through criminal activity in the parliamentary elections in August 2020 in Montenegro, they influenced voters not to exercise their right to vote...
Cyclist took over money, drugs, rescued "stuck" cocaine
That the Biker was a trusted person in one of the cells of the Kavač clan is shown by the messages that the fugitive police officer Ljubo Milović exchanged with the rest of that cartel.
It was this person he sent to collect money and cocaine from members of the criminal network, spread across European countries. In addition, Mileta Ojdanić asked the Biker for help when “his comrades got stuck in a bin” in Spain.
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