Montenegro Investigates Massive Tobacco Theft From Troubled Port

Head of Montenegro's Customs Office, Milena Petricevic, at the press conference. Photo: Montenegro's Customs Office

On Wednesday, police arrested a customs officer, Dejan Dabanovic, and Mimo Perocevic, owner of a private truck company, suspected of smuggling 11,349 boxes of cigarettes out of the port.

"The cigarettes were taken six times from December 28, 2021, when the first theft was recorded, to the beginning of February, in a total of eight trucks. After the theft was registered, we also suspended eight more custom officers," Petricevic told the daily Vijesti.

On February 7, the port had to be evacuated when an unknown person called management and warned that a bomb was planted somewhere in the port.

A day later, the customs office warned that 10.5 million euros' worth of tobacco had been stolen from the hangars of the Montenegro Duvan Commerce and Tobacco Trade MNE companies.

While some media reported that the tobacco was not removed when it was announced that a bomb had been planted in the port, Petricevic denied this.

On Tuesday, police questioned the driver of the truck company that transported the tobacco, and the customs officer and the owner of the truck company. The Special State Prosecutor's Office said it suspected them of smuggling tobacco and of abuse of authority.

"Prosecutor found that the customs seal was damaged while inspections determined that 11,349 packages of various types of cigarettes were missing," the prosecution office said.

Last July, the Special State Prosecution Office investigated a similarly reported theft from the port, this time of 1,160 boxes of cigarettes, worth half a million euros. Authorities said unknown persons broke into the hangar of the Aurora and Atlant Mont...

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