The troika was preparing a new crime?

In a major police operation in shack apartments in the Podgorica neighborhood of Stari Aerodrom, three alleged mercenaries of the Skaljar clan were arrested yesterday - Arjan Reckovic (23) Tarik Muminovic (22) and Milos Markovic (36), for whom an international arrest warrant was issued for the most serious crimes.

The police have been searching for Rečković and Muminović since May last year, when, according to authorities, they attempted to kill the now deceased in Podgorica's City Quarter. Igor Nedović, whom Rečković is suspected of having liquidated in July of the same year, on his doorstep in Stara Varoš.

Marković is wanted for murder. Sasa Klikovac in July 2020 in Zeta.

The Police Directorate officially announced that Rečković, Muminović and Marković are members of an active cell of a high-risk organized crime group operating in the territory of Podgorica, and they also stated that their arrest disrupted the activities of that cell.

According to information provided to Vijesti from several sources, officers of the Special Police Department (SPO) have been monitoring part of this criminal team for days, and yesterday morning, with the support of the Special Police Unit (SJP), they raided two apartment buildings and arrested the alleged mercenaries of the Skalja clan...

The newspaper's sources claim that members of the secret and public police arrived at the arrested trio while following a suspicious car that was eventually parked in front of a bar in a Podgorica neighborhood.

According to the same information, investigators are determining whether Rečković, Muminović and Marković were given a new task and a new target during their escape...

The Police Directorate emphasized in a statement that officers of the SPO, the Regional Security Center "Center" and the Crime Prevention Sector, with the tactical dominance and superiority of the SJP, in coordinated activities of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) and with the active contribution of the National Security Agency (ANB), carried out a precise tactical operation.

"...In which they located, placed under control and deprived of liberty three members of an active cell of a branch of a high-risk OKG operating in the territory of Podgorica."

They explained that thirty-six-year-old Marković, who was wanted for the criminal offense of aggravated murder against Klikovac, committed on July 18, 2020 in Zeta, was arrested.

"...And who was previously released by the competent High Court in Podgorica to defend himself at liberty with a supervision measure, due to failure to issue a first-instance verdict within the legally prescribed three-year period, and which supervision measure he violated upon his release and has been on the run to this day. He was also wanted for the criminal offenses of creating a criminal organization and illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosives," the UP announced.

They explained that Rečković is suspected of aggravated murder committed against Igor Nedović on July 16, 2025 in Podgorica, as well as the criminal offense of attempted aggravated murder also against the same person.

"...Which was carried out on May 17, 2025 in Podgorica."

According to the security institution, Muminović is suspected of having committed the criminal offense of attempted aggravated murder with Rečković on May 17, 2025 in Podgorica, by aiding and abetting, to the detriment of the now deceased Nedović.

"The operation carried out disrupted the activities of this OKG cell in the territory of Podgorica," the UP said.

The security institution points out that during the implementation of this operation and the arrest of OKG members, based on the initiative of the Special State Prosecutor's Office and an order obtained from the Higher Court in Podgorica, two apartments and other premises used by these individuals were searched yesterday.

"Persons deprived of their liberty will be brought to the competent judicial authorities for further proceedings. Further police and prosecutorial activities are being undertaken in relation to the activities of this OKG, the public will be informed of the outcome in a timely manner," the UP announced.

They emphasized that officers of the Police Directorate - Special Police Department and other organizational units, who participate in complex operations and actions, apply the knowledge, skills and work methodology they have acquired from the most powerful partner service in the international intelligence community, the FBI.

They announced that the Police Directorate and the Special State Prosecutor's Office will inform the public about further activities in a timely and transparent manner...

Who were arrested?

In January, the Podgorica Higher State Prosecutor's Office, after conducting an investigation, filed an indictment against Rečković for the murder of Nedović. He is charged with the criminal offense of aggravated murder, as well as the criminal offense of illegal possession and carrying of weapons and explosives.

He is also suspected of having shot Nedović in the stomach with three bullets two months before that crime, in co-perpetration with Muminović.

Nedović (29) succumbed to his injuries on July 16 last year, at the Clinical Center in Podgorica, after being previously wounded by gunfire in Stara Varoš.

He was shot with an automatic weapon while standing in front of his house talking to a friend who was on a motorcycle.

According to police data, Nedović was close to the Kavača criminal clan.

Marković has been on the run since January 2024.

He is accused of being the direct perpetrator of the liquidation of Saša Klikovac, who, according to police data, was part of the Podgorica cell of the Kavač clan.

In March, the Court of Appeal overturned the first-instance verdict that sentenced Marko Šuković and Miloš Marković to a total of 27 years in prison for the murder of Klikovac and returned the case to the Higher Court in Podgorica for a retrial. The same decision also overturned the acquitting part of the verdict that acquitted Predrag Vukadinović, Šuković and Marković of the charge of creating a criminal organization, so that part of the indictment will also be decided again.

In February 2025, the High Court sentenced Šuković to 12 years in prison and Marković to 15 years in prison for complicity in murder.

The indictment in that case was filed on January 21, 2021, and since the first-instance verdict had not been issued by January 21, 2024, Šuković and Marković's detention was terminated by force of law, due to the expiration of the legal period of three years from the filing of the indictment to the first-instance verdict.

After the detention was lifted, Marković did not respond to court summonses or attend scheduled trials, so the High Court decided to try him in absentia...