The Special State Prosecutor's Office has launched a new phase of the investigation against nine more people suspected of being part of an organized criminal group that, according to the SDT, was formed by Vaso Ulic, Radoje Switzerland i Slobodan Kascelan, whose activities were dismantled in the extensive police-prosecutorial operation "General".
According to information from "Vijesti", this is a new prosecution case that includes Ljubo Milović, Mileta Ojdanic, Dragan Knezevic, Radoje Zivkovic, Milan Vujotić, Nikola Spasojevic, Petar Lazovic, Ratko Zivkovic i Milan Knezevic.
Special prosecutors are charging the nine with creating a criminal organization and smuggling around 900 kilograms of cocaine - from South America to Europe and Australia.
The SDT announced that with the issuance of the order, criminal proceedings were initiated against nine defendants.
"The subject of the criminal proceedings is the activities of a criminal organization organized by the now-defendants VU, RZ and SK, whose members have also become defendants, with the aim of smuggling the narcotic drug cocaine from South America to Europe and Australia, as well as the smuggling of 903 kg of that type of drug in June 2020, which was prevented by the Australian detection authorities. The Special State Prosecutor's Office previously filed indictments against three organizers of the criminal organization and 22 of its other members for the criminal offense of creating a criminal organization and several criminal offenses of unauthorized production, possession and distribution of narcotic drugs, which have been confirmed and for which the main trial is underway before the High Court in Podgorica," the prosecutor's office, headed by the Chief Special Prosecutor, announced. Vladimir Novović.
The first part of Operation "General" was implemented in July 2023, when Montenegrin security services, in cooperation with international partners, launched a coordinated operation to arrest and collect evidence against members of the criminal network associated with Ulić and Zvicer.
The action at that time marked the beginning of the dismantling of the wider structure of the group, and investigators obtained key evidence through decrypted Sky and Anom communications.
At that time, the order to conduct an investigation, and later the indictment for smuggling 2,5 tons of cocaine, included Radoje Zvicer, Vaso Ulić and his son. Nikola, Dragan Pavlicevic, Vuk Vulević, Radula Božović, Ivan Delic, Viktor i Leon Drešaj, Milo Bozovic, Damir Mandic, Vjekoslav Lambulić, Veselin Paro Pavličić, Vukan (Cametu) Čoković Matić, Mileta Božović, Radomir Dobriša, Petar Miranović, Marinko Prelevic i Radovan Pantovic.
"Vijesti" reported at the time that, in this international operation, investigators from the SDT and the Special Police Department (SPO) had been working closely for months with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
According to the knowledge of "Vijesti", it is the first time that the US DEA and FBI are directly participating in an investigation with the Special Police Department.
The newspaper's interlocutor said at the time that Montenegrin investigators in that case were provided with an extensive package of intelligence on the illegal activities of members of the criminal group who had been under a kind of surveillance for a long time... It was also explained that the list of those arrested was not final and that there were connected persons, and that "the investigation should go to the very top of the state and the previous government"...
Meanwhile, in addition to the original 19 defendants - special prosecutors for investigation and criminal offenses have indicted Slobodan Kašćelan, who they accuse of being one of the heads of an organized crime group that smuggled cocaine on a transnational level.
Recently, the Supreme Court confirmed the indictment against five more alleged members of the drug cartel - Christian Dresaj, Novak Joksimović, Rajko Smolović and two other defendants - A. Š. i DK
They are accused of being part of a criminal group responsible for smuggling two and a half tons of cocaine.
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