Identifying persons who send false bomb alerts in Podgorica almost on a daily basis is possible if Montenegrin investigators intensify their cooperation with colleagues from neighbouring countries, Dan newspaper writes.
During the last month, there were as many as 11 false bomb threats. All the alerting calls were made from the numbers from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The former prosecutor, now a lawyer Zoran Piperovic and a representative the NGO Civic Alliance, Boris Raonic agree that it is clear that this is not a joke but a serious crime. Piperovic and Raonic argue that it is necessary to solve at least one case as soon as possible and punish the perpetrators in the right way in order to put an end to this problem.
Commenting on the fact that the false bomb reporters directly called two prosecutors and the criminal police chief’s office, Piperovic says that it is a serious problem. Cases of false reports could be resolved if cooperation with the police and prosecutor’s offices in Serbia and BiH was enhanced.
“The situation is out of control. It is possible to put an end to this if police and prosecutors from the region are involved in the investigations. Maybe it is not possible to immediately identify the caller based on the phone number, but it is certainly possible to locate him/her and find out the base station, even if the card was purchased at the kiosk and used only for that one call. If the call was made from a landline phone, then the job is even easier,” Piperovic says.
He argues that each call has its own background and the reason.
“Someone wants to influence the work of the prosecutor’s office. And it is clear that people from Montenegro called, the people who have a motive to do so. Although using cards from the neighbouring countries, it is clear that those were people who know the work of prosecutors and police inspectors because they asked to speak to them by name,” he adds.
Raonic said that the number of false reports showed that this was not a fad but a synchronised operation.
“These examples show how important effective and efficient police cooperation in the region is. If it existed, this person would be immediately arrested. After finding and identifying these individuals, I hope their deeds will be adequately qualified and punished,” said Raonic.
Criminologist Velimir Rakocevic said that too lenient penal policy is one of the main problems in the case of false bomb alerts. Rakocevic had earlier explained that there were several reasons why it was difficult to identify the persons making false alerts. However, what encourages them to achieve their goals in this way is a low number of solved cases related to this issue, but also the awareness that false alerts cannot be seriously punished.
As he explained, this offence can be classified as causing panic and false reporting. Both offences are punishable by a fine or a maximum prison sentence of up to one year. This criminal policy does not have a preventive strength and potential offenders do not take the weight of their acts seriously.
