The Special Prosecutor’s Office accuses Veselin Veljović of having the task of giving confidential information to a criminal organization regarding activities and cases “concerning cigarette smuggling”.
The court ordered the former director of the Police Administration, Veselin Veljović, as well as Muja Nikočević and Nikola Mrkić, to be detained for up to 30 days, writes Beta.
That decision was made on the proposal of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT).
Veljović was remanded in custody to prevent him from escaping and influencing witnesses and accomplices as part of the investigation that the Special Prosecutor’s Office expanded against him for belonging to a criminal organization formed by Aleksandar Mrkić for cigarette smuggling. In addition to Nikočević and Mrkić, Aleksandar Mrkić, who is on the run, was ordered to be detained for up to 30 days.
Veljović suspects that on December 22 and 23, 2020, as an adviser to the President of Montenegro for defense and security, he illegally used his official position to warn Aleksandar Mrkić that on December 25, the police would search the family home and other premises used by a member of Mrkić’s criminal organization Mujo Nikočević.
One of the most powerful men
The special prosecution accuses Veljović that, as director of the Police Administration of Montenegro and adviser to the president of Cme Gora for defense and security, he had the task of giving confidential information to a criminal organization regarding activities and cases “concerning cigarette smuggling”.
During the hearing before the prosecutor, Veljović denied any connection or membership in the criminal organization of Aleksandar Mrkić, noting that he led several actions against him while he was the head of the Montenegrin police.
Veljović was one of the most powerful people in the Montenegrin security sector for decades.
Veljović was the director of the Police Administration from the summer of 2007 to 2011, and then from July 30, 2018 to December 17, 2020, in his second term, he was the first man of the Montenegrin police.
Advisor for Security and Defense
After the end of his first mandate, Veljović was the adviser to the then President of Montenegro Filip Vujanović for security and defense, and during the government of Milo Đukanović from 2014, he was the secretary of the National Security Council.
When he left the Police Directorate in December 2020, after talks with the then Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, he found employment again in the cabinet of the then President Milo Đukanović. Veljović was the advisor for security and defense until May 20 of this year
The Mrkić brothers were targeted by investigative authorities a decade ago, when their hangar in Donja Gorica was searched, and they were linked to the “Mojkovac clan”, writes Beta.
Nikočević, as written by some media, is considered a person close to the “Škaljarska criminal group”.
Source : AL JAZEERA
