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Publication in the community "Montenegro"

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The role of seafarers in drug trafficking

In the last Review of Organized Crime Risk Assessment in Montenegro in 2015 - SOCTA - special attention was paid to increasing the participation of young seafarers in the drug trafficking chain.

The latest SOCTA document says that smuggling and drug trafficking remains the leading activity of the largest number of registered criminal groups. It states that the routes of illicit trafficking in marijuana remained unchanged: the entrance routes are on the border between Albania and Montenegro, and the exit on the borders of Bosnia and Croatia.

In the SOCTA document, the main risks are foreign container carriers from South America and Western Europe. There was a tendency to increase the release of supplies on the high seas, later selected by small yachts, for the purpose of smuggling, and special attention is paid to increasing the participation and the number of seafarers from Montenegro, especially those of younger age, in international drug smuggling. Thus, this document recommends the recruitment of experts for financial investigations of members of organized criminal groups and seafarers involved in illicit drug trafficking at the international level.

Dejan Knezevic, Head of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the Montenegrin Police, says that citizens of Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia who work in international maritime companies are involved in smuggling.

Which, as seamen, at the expense of criminal organizations, transport cocaine from the South American ports to the European Union in quantities ranging from several kilograms to several tens of kilograms per trip. One of the most common ways is that on transatlantic ships in containers a seal is opened and cocaine is placed inside the container, which members of organized crime are taken on arrival at one of the European ports. Another possible way of smuggling involves the participation of speedboats, with which cocaine in waterproof bags is delivered to the ship, where it will be hidden by the bribed team members. Upon arrival in Europe, these bags, equipped with GPS-sensors, are thrown into the sea. Smugglers pick them up on the same high-speed boats and transport them to the black market in Europe.

Knezevic said that police cooperation is intensifying, because the problem is that some of the offenses of our citizens are committed exclusively abroad.

Or in South America, and in Scandinavian countries or countries of Western Europe, and during their stay in Montenegro, they are not seen in drug trafficking.

Despite several attempts, we could not find any interlocutors among young Montenegrin seamen and captains on this subject who would be ready to speak on this sensitive topic. In an interview given by an experienced sailor Ladislav Vukovich, a crew member, he says that he has not been on board for a long time, but he is familiar with this problem. Vukovich still believes that this trend should not be judged on the whole profession.

What can I say, I think that this can not be good news for sailors, regardless of the fact that it is not a matter of seamen as a profession, but of individuals. If we treat the whole profession in one key, then we will do more harm than good.

My position on this issue is that this situation is the result of a general situation in society, the country and the environment. For the past twenty years, we are experiencing a decline. We are in a situation where young people who do not have prospects can not find a job by profession, often go to work on a ship, believing that this is the easiest way to get some profit, And leaving to work for ships, mostly foreign companies, they remain are left to their own devices. There they are subject to various influences, it's no secret that people who deal with such transactions are approaching them, offer them to be couriers, and, of course, receive material compensation from this. "

#DariaZorina

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