The accused criminal team gathered around Zoran Drešić, in late 2020 and early next year, smuggled cocaine to Australia and Europe, hiring sailors on the ships MSC “Joana” and MSC “Panama”.
Each of the associates of that criminal gang, who were on the vessels, had precise tasks - some guarded the illegal cargo, others were tasked with lowering it into the sea so that other members of the clan could take the cocaine on fast speedboats, and some were tasked with preventing it from being reported to the authorities...
This stems from messages exchanged on the once encrypted Sky app by those accused of smuggling around 2,5 tons of cocaine and 59 kilograms of methamphetamine.
"Terco is normally tasked with going up there, regardless of whether he's in the guard, and if something goes wrong, not letting them call the authorities," one of the actors in that criminal business wrote to the rest of the team in a group chat on February 24, 2021.
On the same day, he informed him that he would give the sailor a phone with encryption protection:
"I'll give the third person a sky to take a picture of you today, because we can't both climb up from the bar, it's always up," he sent from the YPBMKP pin.
According to the indictment of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), the seafarer Milovan Burić and now the accused policeman Zoran Kovacevic They each received 50.000 euros after participating in part of a smuggling operation during which they first loaded cocaine and methamphetamine onto the cargo ship Joanna, and then helped to load the same drugs onto a speedboat near Sydney and sail away in an unknown direction.
A court-confirmed indictment has been filed against a six-member group, whose organizer is still unknown to investigators, and who used, among other things, nicknames on the now decrypted Sky application. Bolivar, GIL i YAKDLLS.
The records show that Burić and Kovačević, together with the now deceased Nenad M. Novović, I work with D. Vojvodić., Nedeljko A. Brkan and Zoran K. Drešić, during September 2020, illegally transported 150 kilograms of cocaine and 59 kilograms of methamphetamine for sale.
It is explained that the organizer of the group hired Drešić and Novović to find sailors who would carry out the transfer of the narcotics, who gave the job to Brkan, and he gave it to Vojvodić and another sailor from the MSC "Joanna" who has not yet been identified.
Communicating in English, several members of this criminal gang planned international drug smuggling, carrying it out with almost daily "surveillance" over a vessel traveling on the high seas.
This is shown by the messages they exchanged months before the speedboat set sail near Sydney with a cargo of cocaine.
After one of the group members asks for an explanation in late October 2020 who the sailor is in that chat, a clan colleague explains to him that this collaborator "has not been added yet."
“It hasn’t been added yet, they don’t have access to WiFi, they’re still far away… that’s what we’re told.”
Writing from pin IMYXQ9, one of the drug smugglers sends: "Which sailor is it? He's mine. They need four more days to reach Sydney. Eight hours ago the ship was in this position," also forwarding the location of the "Joanna."
His clanmate then suggests how to retrieve the "package" from the container ship: "I think it's best that while the ship is en route to the anchorage, they drop the package while we have it in sight, so that the ship continues on, and we don't approach the ship."
On the first day of December 2020, the criminal team was given instructions on what to do from the pin IMYXQ9.
“It's 18:19pm in Sydney now… You need to be there five or six hours before work. The earlier you get out on the water, the better for you,” he wrote.
The correspondence then includes a member of the criminal group who, as it turns out, is in charge of "picking up" the goods.
"They need a lot of rope. There's no way I'm going to get close to the ship with a boat, not while it's still moving, and the weather is going to be terrible tomorrow morning. It's going to be 25 knots, with 2,1-foot waves. They need to have a lot of rope. Let them throw it in the water and let it drag behind the ship, and let them hold the other end. I'll drive behind the ship until I get the end of the rope. When I do, I'll let them know. Then let them tie a long rope to the package and use another rope to lower it into the water. That way I'll always have the end of the rope tied to the package. It's much safer, there's no way we're going to lose it in the high seas," he wrote, hidden behind the pin NXVHXN.
The interlocutor who gave the instructions then writes: "Magellan is the coordinator of the action and work for the sailors."
Several other team members then join the correspondence, and one of them mentions the alleged organizer - Bolivar, who asks for the same confirmation and adds: "Soon Popeye to be in the company to confirm all those things”.
Hidden behind the PHATM2 nickname, one of the crew asks for the sailor to join the group directly, but the others explain to him that he is already there, that his nickname is Fox, but that there is currently no signal.
“It’s not confirmed yet, but according to the latest information from Popeye, they have a pilot at 14pm, and the meeting point will be at 13:20pm. Don’t you think 500 metres of rope is too long? We use Sky or Signal if Sky isn’t working.”
That day, they also exchange a map of the open sea with exact coordinates, so that the packages can be dropped off at that location.
One of them, who, according to the correspondence, is part of the Australian team, sends that it is best to let Fox and the Australian captain speak directly, so that there is no confusion.
"Yes, and Magellan can help too, he's an expert at this. Fox is the sailor, Magellan coordinates the sailor," the crime team member who wrote from the pin IMYXQ9 sent.
“I am the Australian team,” the pin KZ2KW5 then sends, and his colleague with the pin NXVHXN. “I am the Australian captain.”
On the same day, the group is tasked with installing an app to access the GPS, and Fox is tasked with “turning on the GPS before it arrives at the meeting point, so you can track the ship and see how far away it is”...
In the following messages, one of them, hidden behind the nickname Homer, calculates how long the ship needs to sail from its current location to the meeting point, if it is traveling at a speed of 18,3 knots...
At midnight on December 2nd, the team receives final instructions - that they must finish the job from 19 pm to midnight, because their man is on the bridge.
A member of the Australian drug smuggling team asks if it was possible at least at 18 pm, because it takes them a long time to get back to the coast, and gets the answer:
"At 18 p.m. the chief officer is on the bridge, and he's not our man."
"They will be there and await your command"
In early December 2020, a ship carrying cocaine and methamphetamine was sailing towards Sydney, while the Baran crew organized themselves to retrieve their loot on the high seas.
The drug seizure was carried out on December 2nd at around 19 p.m.
“He will now prepare everything to be ready and will wait at a position where he has the ship's WiFi, 50 meters from the drop point. He will be there and will wait for your order. When you send a message to Signal 'drop', he will drop the goods. In the meantime, his friend will be at the stern position to establish visual contact with you. There will be two guys at the stern and a third officer on the bridge,” 9ZZARO sent them.
“Sounds fine to me. There are no other boats out there, so they will definitely know it’s me. I’m still an hour away. About 7,6 miles. Can anyone confirm that this is the only boat in the area? It’s in a slightly different direction than the GPS mark,” the Australian captain wrote to them.
Part of the team explains to him that it is the ship on his starboard side if he looks east, and the other sends: "Give the order to cut the rope on the Sky here, brothers. You bastard, you have direct contact with the sailor"...
"Everything is fine, I see the ship. Big white MSC sign on the side," the Australian captain writes to them...
At the same time, the crew on board tied the bags of cocaine with rope and began lowering them from the vessel...
"I'm starting to get closer to the ship. I think I see something over the edge," the Australian captain tasked with retrieving the "package" wrote to them.
“He sees you. Everything is ready and a meter above the water. Homer, do you have visual contact?”
"Ready now. Lower now! NOW, let go," the captain wrote.
They briefly lost their signal, according to the messages, but they continued...
“Homer, just come over and cut the rope. When he sees you pulling, he’ll let go. He’ll let go of the rope when he sees you trying to cut it or take it.”
“"Okay, done!!!! The sailor confirmed it to me," writes 9ZZARO, and a clan member hidden behind the pin Q1CWYI asks that the Australian captain let them know that he has loaded everything onto the ship.
"Six packages and nine bags. Confirmed everything is loaded onto the ship," 9ZZARO wrote at the time, and KZ2KW5 added: "Australian captain, six packages and nine bags. Confirm you have taken it. Thank you. The boat ramp is clear. The way home is clear."
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