Police comb Mrkić's warehouse: Machines and tons of cut tobacco found, they suspect an illegal factory

In an almost day-long police operation in Danilovgrad, tobacco processing machines and a large quantity of cut tobacco were found in Aleksandar Mrkić's warehouse, and investigators suspect that the facility was practically used as an illegal tobacco products factory, "Vijesti" learned from several sources.

According to the same information, officers from the Crime Suppression Department and the Danilovgrad police located the warehouse, after which they began a search.

During the operation, machines that once belonged to the Tobacco Combine were found, as well as tons of cut tobacco, "Vijesti" was told.

The newspaper unofficially learned that the warehouse is registered to a person whom the Special State Prosecutor's Office charges with being a member of Mrkić's criminal organization.

Investigators suspect that the space was not only used for storing tobacco, but also for its processing and production of tobacco products intended for the illegal market.

"It is suspected that this space was also used for the production of tobacco products that were smuggled," said one of the interlocutors.

The police are inventorying the found equipment and tobacco throughout the day, after which the precise quantity of seized goods should be known.

"Both the machines and the tobacco will be confiscated," said one of the interviewees.

Aleksandar Aco Mrkić was charged before the Higher Court in Podgorica with forming a criminal organization in 2018 whose goal, according to the Special State Prosecutor's Office, was to smuggle cigarettes from the Port of Bar Free Zone and launder money.

Among the defendants is the former director of the Police Directorate, Veselin Veljović, who the Special State Prosecutor's Office charges with being a member of that organization and providing Mrkić with confidential police information in order to assist him in cigarette smuggling.

Mrkić is on the run, and at the request of the Montenegrin police, an international Interpol arrest warrant was issued and made public for him.

Mrkić is also mentioned in other cases of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) as one of the actors in cigarette smuggling whose activities were monitored by members of competing criminal groups.