Why is Vučić blaming Montenegro after the arrest of the Belgrade police chief?

Instead of talking about the arrested Belgrade police chief, the accusations are directed at Montenegro.

As the public awaits answers following the arrest and dismissal of the top police chief in Serbia's capital, the country's president accuses Montenegro of "importing" drug gangs into Serbia.

These claims by Aleksandar Vučić have not been commented on by official Podgorica so far.

Neither the Government of Montenegro nor the Ministry of Interior of this country have responded to Radio Free Europe's questions.

And, the deputy chairman of the Committee on Security and Defense in the Parliament of Montenegro, Nikola Zirojevic, has assessed these statements as inappropriate.

"If you ask Vučić, all of us in Montenegro are Serbs, only the criminals are Montenegrins and come from Montenegro," he said.

This opposition MP from the Social Democrats considered that the most important question is "why anyone from any country sees Serbia as a suitable terrain for dealing with crime."

"And, I think that the answer to this question should be sought within the borders of Serbia, namely from the executive power in Serbia," said Zirojevic.

Veselin Milić was in one of the highest management positions in the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) when he was arrested.

He is suspected of covering up the murder of a man, whom the media linked to a criminal group in Belgrade.

He was killed in a restaurant in Belgrade, where Millić was also present.

In addition to the latter, three police officers have also been arrested.

The prosecution suspects that Millić was at the restaurant in the company of two people suspected of murder and that he called the victim, suggesting that he go to clarify the disagreements between them.

It is also said that he suggested that he not go accompanied by his security.

During an extraordinary appearance, a day after the arrest of the Belgrade police chief, Vučić did not provide further details about Millić's role, but spoke about Montenegrin criminal clans.

Lawyer and former Serbian Police Minister Bozho Prellević believes that Vučić's statements about Montenegro are an attempt to divert attention from what happened in Belgrade.

"... that in a restaurant, which is almost closed to the public, a serious murder has occurred, that the body has been lost and that members of the MUP have been arrested," Prellević tells Radio Free Europe.

The body of the deceased has not yet been found, while the army has also been involved in the search, according to authorities.

Without directly linking it to the case involving the Belgrade police chief, Vučić, on May 16, made a series of accusations against Montenegro.

"They killed half of our country. The villages of Shkalari and Kavaçi are not near Belgrade, but you imported this evil here," he said.

The Kavaçi and Shkalari clans are two rival criminal groups from the Kotor area of ​​Montenegro, whose conflict has been ongoing since 2014, when a cocaine shipment went missing in Valencia.

Since then, more than 70 people have been killed in clashes between them on the territory of Montenegro, Serbia and other countries.

These groups are linked to international drug trafficking, murder, and other criminal acts.

Radoje Zvicer is considered one of the leaders of the infamous Kavaç clan and is on the list of the 50 most wanted people in Europe.

Since 2020, when he was seriously injured in Kiev, all trace of him has been lost.

At the head of the Shkalari clan was Jovan Vukotic, who was killed in 2022 in Istanbul.

Serbian investigative journalist Vuk Cvijic says that criminal groups can hardly be divided on a national basis, because they are mixed and cooperate with each other.

"We also see this from cases that have ended with final decisions, like in the case of Darko Šariq," he tells Radio Free Europe.

Šarić, a Serbian citizen since 2005 but born in Montenegro, was convicted in Belgrade for smuggling more than five tons of cocaine.

Cvijic says that criminals from Serbia and Montenegro have passports from both countries.

"They wouldn't be in Serbia if they didn't feel safe here," he adds.

Previously, Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs, Ivica Dacic, stated that the activity of criminal groups from Montenegro in Serbia had decreased.

"For many years, criminal groups used Belgrade and Serbia for mutual clashes. But we have cut off the branches of the Montenegrin criminal octopus and its activity in Serbia has decreased," Dacic told Radio Television of Serbia in October 2024.

Dacic has not made any public statements since the arrest of the Belgrade police chief.

Vučić also stated that some claims about the murder in Belgrade are being published on the social network X by Miloš Medenica, a fugitive from Montenegro.

The reliability of these videos, however, has not been confirmed by Radio Free Europe.

"This was said by this convicted criminal, again from Montenegro, who, according to our intelligence data, is currently protected by the Kavaç clan and is being held on the territory of Montenegro," Vučić said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro has not responded to Radio Free Europe's questions about whether the Montenegrin police have information about Miloš Medenica, as Vučić has claimed, or whether they have verified the origin of the videos.

Earlier, Montenegrin police stated that the videos, which were published several times on social networks after Miloš Medenica's escape, were created with the help of artificial intelligence, although experts say there is not enough evidence for these claims.

Medenica was sentenced in January in Montenegro to ten years in prison for organized crime.

Following this decision, he escaped from house arrest and an international arrest warrant was issued against him.

His mother, Vesna Medenica, former president of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, has also been sentenced to ten years in prison.

Lawyer Prellević believes that the accusations against Montenegro, which this month marks 20 years since its separation from the state union with Serbia, were made for electoral purposes.

"Are Croats, Montenegrins, Macedonians a problem now? A smoke bomb needs to be thrown and someone needs to explain," he says.

Prellević considers the behavior of pro-government tabloids in the case of the former Belgrade police chief to be significant.

“When this happened, there was silence in the state tabloids, meaning they were not allowed to write. Then, [Vucic] said something about Montenegrins and they immediately started writing about it,” he says.

Vučić, on the occasion of the anniversary of Montenegro's independence, has made harsh statements against this country and has refused to participate in the celebrations.

"I love Serbia more than anything in the world, and if I were to celebrate something like that, I would be ashamed and spit on myself and my people," he declared on May 14.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro has assessed these statements as politically irresponsible./ REL