Police in Montenegro on Friday arrested a special prosecutor in the department for combating organized crime, Sasa Cadjenovic on suspicion of being a member of a group of organized criminals specializing in drug trafficking, the prosecutor's office in Podgorica announced.
Cadjenovic is believed to be a member of the Kavac clan, named after a locality in the Bay of Kotor on the Montenegrin Adriatic coast.
Members of this gang have been waging a merciless war against a rival and neighboring gang, that of Skaljari, since the disappearance in 2014, in a Spanish port, of some 300 kilos of cocaine, according to the local press.
These settling of scores have claimed dozens of victims, in Montenegro, Serbia, but also in Greece, Spain, Ukraine and Austria.
"
The suspect is accused of having, since mid-2020, become a member of the criminal organization, the Kavac clan
", announced the prosecution in a press release. "
He had been ordered not to initiate legal proceedings against the members of this criminal organization
,” the same source added.
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Cadjenovic protected the members of this clan responsible for the most serious criminal acts.
Outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic's government had set itself the goal of fighting organized crime.
In October, the former president of the Supreme Court of Montenegro was charged with participating in a smuggling operation carried out by an organized crime group.
Vesna Medenica -- who served as head of the Supreme Court for 14 years -- is accused of providing institutional cover for an organized crime group led by her son Milos Medenica, according to the prosecution.
Vesna Medenica, 65, was arrested in April as she tried to board a plane bound for neighboring Serbia.
She was released after her indictment and defends herself as a free defendant.
Both mother and son have denied these accusations.
Independent from Serbia since 2006, a member of NATO since 2017, Montenegro, which is negotiating its accession to the EU, is faced with a problem of organized crime.
A former Yugoslav republic of 620,000 inhabitants, Montenegro is considered a hub for cigarette and drug trafficking.
