Novović on the case of Vasović: The arrests are not over

Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović confirmed to Vijesti Television that Ilija Vasović, the former head of Bar's criminal police, was arrested this morning by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, on suspicion of having started the criminal acts of creating a criminal organization and abuse of official position.

"At the moment, several searches are being conducted in several locations, and regarding this case," Novović said and answered affirmatively when asked if he was trying to say that this is not the end of the arrests.

Vasović was arrested on the order of the SDT a day after the portal Libertas published transcripts from the SKY communication where Vasović, according to the detailed instructions of the fugitive Aleksandar-Ac Mrkić, in January 2021, with the fake diplomat Stevan Stiva Simijanović in the apartment of Miodrag-Daka Davidović in Podgorica, contracts to take over all jobs related to cigarette smuggling in Montenegro.

Novović confirmed the allegations of the Libertas portal that the correspondence conducted by the police officer Vasović and the accused Mrkić in the SDT from June last year through the SKY application. The correspondence begins on January 6, 2021, when, allegedly, Stevan Simijanović sends a message to Vasović informing him that he will have a meeting with "Vampire in agreement with Kovrdžavi".

"It is also true that the material you mentioned arrived at the SDT on June 26 last year and that in July, that is, on July 24, 2023, an investigation was opened, that is, an order was passed to conduct an investigation against Aleksandar Mrkić and others who were members of that criminal organization . The material arrived at the SDT by request on January 11, 2024, however, considering that it is a voluminous material, and that detention in the investigation can last only six months, it was decided by the special prosecutor to process a part of the case, complete the investigation and indict, and that the second part of the case forms a separate case, and as you saw, the realization of that case followed this morning," Novović said, and answered affirmatively to the question of whether this was the answer to the question of why Vasović was not arrested when the rest of Mrkić's group were.

When asked what about the others mentioned in the correspondence published by Libertas, such as businessman Miodrag Daka Davidović, who was blacklisted by the United States of America due to his alleged connection with crime and Russia's malicious influence in the region, Novović answered:

"At this moment, we have data up to the level of grounds for suspicion that Ilija Vasović was the user of one of the pins".

When asked if this means that at this moment he cannot say whether the case concerning Davidović has also been formed, he adds:

"In the case that I said was separated, there is that material, and everything that is found in that material will be realized through the case in which Ilija Vasović was prosecuted".

Asked who "Kovrdžavi" is, since the Movement for Europe has already recognized former Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and is using these correspondences as evidence that he is involved in cigarette smuggling, Novović says that it would be too early to answer those questions now.

Vasović worked in the Security Department of Ulcinj, where for a time he covered the position of inspector for blood crimes. He was dismissed as head of the Bar Criminal Police in April 2021, by the decision of the acting director of the Police Administration at the time, Zoran Brđanin. Aleksandar-Aco Mrkić, who was also accused by the Special Prosecutor's Office of being the head of a criminal organization, is still on the run, and his brother Nikola Mrkić, former director of the Police Administration Veselin Veljović and Mujo Nikočević were arrested on July 24, 2023, on suspicion of smuggling cigarettes. and have been in custody since then.