Pavićević summarized results of last year’s achievements, and said that 12 out of 17 murders were resolved, that 11 cases of high corruption that damaged the state for 30 million EUR were processed, and that 16 police actions related to usury were performed, and they helped document 1,2 million EUR that were used in unlawful charging of interest rates.
He put the fight against terrorism and cases against Montenegrin citizens who are fighting on international fronts as one of the priorities in work. Chairman of Montenegro’s Criminalistic Police said that last year was marked with a decrease in crime rate.
„Crime rate during 2015 was 8,5 and as such it was the lowest in the region, while in 2014 he crime rate was 9,1. Police activities in different areas, on national and international level, lead to this positive change”, Pavićević estimated.
Data classified in SOCTA (Assessment of the risk of serious and organized crime) reflect that a considerable decrease of the number of organized crime groups (OCG) on Montenegro’s territory in the last years.
„Number of OCGs was decreased for 43%, and we expect to see further weakening of these groups. OCGs from Montenegro are mostly active in drug trade, especially of cocaine, on the international level. For the successful fight against drug trade on international level, quality international police collaboration is needed, and we are already involved in such activities with police departments from region, Europe and the world in general. One number of OCGs was abolished in international police actions, were many of their members were arrested”, Pavićević explained.
He underlined that a considerable number of OCG members were arrested recently in the cases of violence on Montenegrin territory. Those are mostly cases of blackmail, kidnapping, blood crimes and PEH, as well as usury.
When it comes to fight against corruption in the high places, the Chairman said that during 2015, 11 cases were processed, with code names AMD Budva, WTE Budva, Plato Jaz, TQ Plaza, Morsko dobro, Opština Nikšic, 18. septembar, Opština Bar, Opština Plav, Uprava za šume and Centar za socijalni rad Rožaje.
„Ten reports were made, as well as other charges, against 45 persons, for 26 crimes committed that could be classified in the realm of corruption. Material damage made in these actions is around 30 million EUR. From the total number of charged persons, 18 of them are high public officials, from which ten still hold the position of public official“, he explained.
Pavićevic claims that most of these cases were worked on during the last years, but that the processes in question are long-term and require subtle informative and intelligence work.
„2016 saw the realization of cases Grahovo, Kopirajt and Bulevar Bečići. Aside from these cases, police put forth to prosecution a number of cases that relate to different forms of crime, starting with municipality administrations, over public institutions, companies and economical subjects in general“, he said.
When it comes to fight against usury, Pavićević said that there are reasons to be pleased with developments.
“During the last year and the beginning of this year, Police and Prosecution collaborated and made significant progress in process of proving usury relations between creditors and debtors. Officials from Criminalistic Police realized 16 actions in the intelligence project “Loan”, that was aimed to reveal and suppress usury.These 16 actions have code names Tornado, Procenat, Kapara, Green five, Koko, Depozit, Bruni, Sova, Lira, Bubac, Rata, Obruc, Omca, Zvrk, Trio and Delta, and 21 persons were processed in total, while the amount of money used in these crimes is estimated to be 1,2 million EUR“, he said.
Almost all firearm crimes solved by the Police
During the last few years we saw a trend of starting fires and setting explosives, due to the fact that it is the cheapest form of fighting. However, Pavićević explained that Police solved most of these cases, but lacks material evidence.
„These crime acts leave very little material traces, and there is often not enough material evidence to process. During 2015 and the beginning of 2016 Police resolved a series of these particular crime acts“, he said.
He presented the statistical data on seized drugs during this year and the last, saying that 383 seizures were noted, druing which 237,42 kilograms of drugs were seized.
„Cannabis and skunk were among the most prevalent with 197,46 kg seized, cocaine 33,92 kg and heroin 4,63 kg, while chemical drugs seized are weighted in 1,3 kg. Officials of Department for Fight on Drugs had 115 reports during last year, that had Prosecution process 196 persons. 175 offenses were reported as well”, he explained, adding that on the international level, during 2015, Montenegrin Police acted in 4 important cases by the names of Skiper, Mak Hant, Kocka Vinetu and Virus, while on the national level they were involved in the case called Čistač. In the case Kocka Vinetu, that was coordinated by the Spanish Police, 3,5 tons of cocaine were seized along with 9,4 million EUR, and 69 people were arrested on different states’ territories, among which two were Montenegrin citizens. The beginning of this year saw action Kukolj realized, during which 30 persons were process for street level dealing of drugs. Pavićević added that the stream of good results continues in this year as well, and the action performed in the end of February is a proof of this. For less than 24 hours, 90 kg of drugs were seized, that have a value of 2.375.000 EUR on the drug market”.
Special team to deal with murders and property of organized crime groups
Priority in the work of Criminalistic Police in the following period will be a fight against all forms of organized criminal.
„Newly formed Special Police Department will collaborate with units of Criminalistic Police and Special State Prosecution in the cases of financial organized crime and corruption primarily, but it will also deal with suppressing other forms of organized crime”, he said, explaining that he is “primarily talking about resolution of murder cases with elements of organized crime, money laundering, as well as financial investigations relating to OCGs in terms of illegally acquired properties, which is the best long-term method for their weakening”.
They plan and execute murders internationally
During the last year, Police registered 17 murder cases, from which 13 were resolved. For Pavićević’s this presents a good result, taking into account that crime acts like this are most complex to process. In the last year, the Criminalistic Police achieved a great progress in resolving murder cases, that are consequence of fights between crime groups.
„One number of these crime acts requires a longer period for resolving, due to their characteristics of organized crime, planned action as well as international elements, meaning that foreign citizens are hired to execute, with actions planned internationally. International elements can be noticed in the motivation as well, because it reflects fights between OCGs on international drug trade market. If we take these difficult factors into account, and the fact that the crime scene usually has little to no material evidence, I think that significant results were made in the resolution of these cases”, he underlined.
Pavićević also underlined good collaboration with State Prosecution in Podgorica, that lead to resultion of 4 murder cases committed in the period from 2003 to 2014.
„It is a case of murder of Nikolaj Lipolis, Italian citizen whose body was found in Bar in 2009, and who was killed in the periond of 2003/4. This crime saw Italian crime organization Sacra Corona Unita charged. Then we have a murder of Dragan Bećirović, committed in 2011 in Budva, as well as murder of Andrija Mrdak, committed in 2014 in Spuž, that had international and planned action elements. In the beginning of this year, murder of Goran Pejović committed in 2008 in Budva was resolved, and a foreign citizen Sretko Kalinić was charged”, he explained.
