Seafarer Milovan Burić and police officer Zoran Kovacevic each received €50,000 after their involvement in a smuggling operation where they initially loaded cocaine and methamphetamine onto the cargo ship “Joanna”, and later assisted in transferring the drugs onto a speedboat near Sydney, departing in an unspecified direction…

This was reported by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) in a court-validated indictment against a six-member group, with the organizer still unidentified by investigators. The group members allegedly used the aliases “Bolivar”, “GIL”, and “YAKDLLS” on the now-decrypted Sky application, among others…

According to the indictment, the pair, along with Nenad M. Novović, D. Vojvodić, Nedeljko A. Brkan, and Zoran K. Drešić, illegally transported 150 kilograms of cocaine and 59 kilograms of methamphetamine intended for sale during September 2020…

The indictment clarifies that the group’s organizer enlisted Drešić and Novović to locate sailors capable of executing the narcotics transfer, who then passed the job to Brkan, who further delegated it to Vojvodić and another unidentified sailor from the MSC “Joanna”…

They are accused of facilitating the transfer of cocaine and methamphetamine following the arrival of the freighter, or instructing the sailors on how to reload the narcotics from the ship “Joanna” to the speedboat…

It is detailed that on October 20, 2020, Brkan and Vojvodić, upon the directive of the criminal organization’s leader, retrieved six packages containing 59 kilograms of methamphetamine from an unidentified individual at the Belgian port of Antwerp and concealed them on the vessel…

The following day, it is reported that the same defendants brought aboard nine waterproof bags containing 150 kilograms of cocaine onto the cargo ship “Joanna” and concealed them…

“On December 2, 2020, when the ship was sailing close to Sydney… defendants Brkan and Vojvodić, along with an unidentified sailor, acting on Burić’s previously agreed orders with Kovacević and an individual using the pin IMYXQ59 on the encrypted ‘SKY ECC’ application, lowered 150 kg of methamphetamine and 9 kg of cocaine, both packed in waterproof bags, onto a speedboat by rope from the ship. This speedboat was then navigated towards the reloading point by Burić, after which it headed in an unknown direction with the narcotics in question, all with the intent of unauthorized further sale,” the indictment by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office states, among other allegations.

The document mentions that the defendants were compensated for their efforts during December 2020 and January 2021.

Burić and Kovacević each received €50,000, while Brkan and Vojvodić collectively received €418,000, and the unidentified sailor was paid €40,000…

“Through which the defendants, as collaborators, committed… the offense of unauthorized production, possession, and distribution of narcotic drugs…”, further elaborates the prosecution document.

Roles

The indictment provides an intricate breakdown of each defendant’s role, stating that Burić was responsible for communicating and issuing orders to individuals arranging drug deliveries to the ship, as well as coordinating with crews regarding the timing, location, and methods of receiving these illegal substances, in addition to procuring technical equipment for the ship’s crew for communication and monitoring of narcotics deliveries…

“He was to create sketches showing the meeting points of ships during the loading and unloading of narcotics, determine the coordinates at sea for these operations, and consider the weather and other conditions at sea for the loading and unloading process, along with carrying out further actions as dictated by the organizer of the criminal organization.”

Regarding Kovačević, the indictment outlines that he recruited additional members of the criminal organization and collaborated with Burić on critical details related to drug transfers, which Burić subsequently communicated as orders to the ship crews…

“He took illicit earnings from the collection of monetary fees per kilogram of transported cocaine and distributed them to other members of the criminal organization, and also acquired telephone devices equipped with the Sky ECC encrypted communication application to distribute among the organization members,” the indictment adds.

The document indicates that Drešić was responsible for finding sailors willing to transport cocaine and methamphetamine for remuneration, while also obtaining encrypted communication devices through other organization members and providing them to the recruited sailors…

“(His task was)… to arrange for the collection of illicit profits derived from the monetary fee per kilogram of cocaine transported and facilitate the transfer to other group members”…

Similarly, Novović’s role involved recruiting sailors for drug transport at a given fee, securing phones with the Sky application, and distributing funds from this illegal enterprise…

Apart from recruiting sailors, Brkan’s responsibilities included accepting, concealing, storing, monitoring, and preparing drugs for unloading on the ship, as well as managing the financial proceeds from this trafficking and sharing them with others…

“Defendant Vojvodić, together with other crew members aboard, was tasked with accepting, concealing, guarding, monitoring, and preparing the narcotics for unloading, taking orders from the organizer relayed through Brkan,” the indictment highlights.

Following the arrests, “Vijesti” received information from several unofficial sources indicating that Drešić was coordinating the activities of this criminal group from Spuša prison.

Baranin was reportedly apprehended in Great Britain after being sentenced to 16 and a half years for various offenses. In October 2014, he was extradited to Montenegro to continue serving his sentence in Spuž.

Sources within “Vijesti” assert that Drešić was at the helm of a criminal organization suspected of successfully executing transoceanic transportation of cocaine and methamphetamine multiple times throughout 2020 and 2021.

They moved two and a half tons of cocaine.

Within the same indictment, Burić is also alleged to have smuggled 380 kilograms of cocaine by sea across the North Sea to Sweden in May 2020.

“Defendants Burić and Kovacević are charged with the unauthorized production, possession, and distribution of narcotic drugs for smuggling 1,834 kg of cocaine by sea from South America to Spain between late January and mid-February 2021. Additionally, defendants Burić and Novović are also charged for smuggling 199 kg of cocaine by sea from Belgium towards Australia in the period from late January to mid-March 2021,” the SDT announced in late June of the previous year.

News