"There is no message that would prove that I was a member of an organized criminal group or the owner of any quantity of drugs," said former mayor of Budva Milo Božović.
He presented his defense today at the Higher Court in Podgorica, where the trial of Vaso Ulic and other defendants for participating in the smuggling of two and a half tons of cocaine continued with the presentation of the defendants' defense.
Božović emphasized that there are no messages in Sky Communications about his recruitment into a criminal organization, no agreement on the transfer of drugs, no price, no mention of third parties, or any mention of drugs.
"There is no message that would prove that I was a member of an organized crime group or the owner of any amount of drugs. There is no material or personal evidence against me, that is, there are no secret surveillance measures, witnesses, operational data from the police or foreign services. I have never been to Colombia, Ecuador or Australia. I do not speak Spanish or Chinese and I do not know anyone from those countries," said Božović.
He said that there are a total of four chats on the basis of which an indictment was filed against him, and that in the messages mentioning Vaso Ulić, there are no return messages from him, but rather they are one-sided messages.
Božović stated that he found these messages in the media and that he does not know how many more have been published, but that he managed to obtain these which he submitted to the court. In two chats that the SDT attached to the case files, he said that in the first chat, the SDT changed the original message from the leaked material.
"That way, it gave it a different meaning in the indictment. For the second chat, there are messages that have nothing to do with the criminal offense in question," Božović believes. He claims that the messages themselves prove that he did not write them, because they were written in Ekavica.
"I don't use ekavica, but ijekavica. It's clear that I didn't write these messages," claims Božović. He added that the alleged anonymous interlocutor also writes in ekavica in these messages, which is obvious that these are not people from Montenegro.
"This unidentified person is not included in the indictment, nor is the prosecution charging him with any criminal offense, unlike other unidentified persons in the case. I have not been able to find that this person's PIN is connected to any other PIN of the accused in this case. I am sure that the prosecutor knows that this chat has nothing to do with the criminal offense in question," Božović said in his defense.
Regarding the third chat, which refers to the alleged ownership of five kilograms of drugs, Božović said that it was a communication with Petar Miranović, which contains a total of 73 messages.
"Apparently, 71 messages were written by Petar Miranović, and two by me. Those two messages read: 'OK, OK' and 'Just go, brother'. Those messages cannot be proof that I am the owner of five kilograms of drugs, nor that I wrote them," Božović pointed out.
He said that he only knew Vaso Ulic by sight from Budva and that their communication was limited to greetings. Bozovic claimed that he had never used Sky or any other encrypted application, nor was any such communication ever found on him.
Defendant Vjekoslav Lambulić said that the alleged Sky messages on which the charges against him for participating in drug trafficking are based were published on the social network TikTok twenty days before they were delivered from France to the Special Prosecutor's Office and his defense.
"The alleged PIN code I used was sent to France on April 27, 2023, the response arrived at the SDT on December 19, 2023, and I was arrested on October 8, 2023. However, my alleged messages appeared on TikTok on November 27, 2023. They were posted by Edmond Mustafa. I ask the question, how did these messages reach Edmond Mustafa before the SDT. It seems that France trusted Mustafa more than the special prosecutor's office. I have never used Sky, nor was it ever found on me. And even if I had, the messages I am accused of do not contain elements of a criminal offense," Lambulić said in his defense.
Defendant Petar Miranović said that he did not admit guilt and would not answer questions from the prosecution.
"I was never a member of a criminal organization, nor was I involved in the transportation or sale of drugs," Miranović said.
The defendant Radovan Pantović also denied guilt and pointed out to the court that three indictments had been filed against him based on the same alleged Sky material.
"If three indictments have been filed against me based on one and the same piece of material evidence, then I don't know what else I should say," Pantović said in his defense.
Both former SAJ member and defendant Marinko Prelević denied the allegations in the indictment.
"I have been identified as a member of the alleged criminal group solely on the basis of encrypted communications for which the prosecution itself knows it does not possess the originals. There has been no call, message or contact with the alleged organizers of this alleged criminal group," claims Prelević.
The SDT indictment includes Radoje Zvicer, Vaso Ulić, Slobodan Kašćelan, Ulić's son, Nikola Uić, Vukan Čoković Matić, Viktor Drešaj, Radomir Dobriša, Petar Miranović, Marinko Prelević, Veselin Paro Pavličić and Mileta Božović, as well as Vuk Vulević, Radule Božović, Ivan Delić, Leon Drešaj, Dragan Pavličević, former president of the Municipality of Budva Milo Božović, Damir Mandić, Vjekoslav Lambulić and Radovan Pantović.
They are accused of organizing a group and smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia.
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