Montenegro: Arrested former director of the Police Administration Veselin Veljović

In an operation by the Special Police Department (SPO) on the order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, the former director of the Police Administration, Veselin Veljović, was arrested this morning, Podgorica reports.  "News".

"Vijesti" has learned that he is accused of creating a criminal organization and abuse of official position. SPO has been conducting searches in Podgorica, Mojkovac, Žabljak and Nikšić since morning.

Veljović was arrested in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL).

As "Vijesti" learns, SPO members also arrested Muja Nikočević, who is reputed to be a member of the organized criminal group "Škaljarski Klan".

SPO by order of the court, and at the request of the Special State Prosecutor's Office and in cooperation with EUROPOL, conducts "searches of apartments and other premises of several persons in Podgorica, Nikšić, Žabljak and Mojkovac, due to grounds for suspicion that criminal acts have been committed - creation of a criminal organization, abuse official position and smuggling", announced the prosecutor and SDT spokesman Vukas Radonjić.

Veselin Veljović was the director of the Police Administration from the summer of 2007 to 2011, and then in the period from July 30, 2018 to December 17, 2020, he was again the first man of the Montenegrin police in his second term.

During his career at the head of the security sector, Veselin Veljović was often accused by opposition leaders, some non-governmental organizations and the media of non-transparency, abuse of police and power, unquestioning political loyalty to Milo Đukanović, but also of involvement in numerous cases of the sale of state property.

From the era of Veselin Veljović, the most powerful security guard since the independence of Montenegro, a series of unsolved murders, attacks on journalists and crimes that damaged state property remained, reports "News".

MS/News