It should be a “nice Surprise” for drug investigators, the afternoon of the 16th. May this year, ran in the underground garage of the Grand Casino in Basel, in a car surrounded. Because of evidence of their international partners, they pursued a cocaine delivery, which was previously arrived with a private jet at the airport of Basel-Mulhouse.
What is not expected by the investigators: That the “Big Boss”, according to a court judgment behind the delivery, sitting by himself in the Ford Transit. But there he was, Michael Dokovich, a Montenegrin with a dubious past, together with two accomplices, a pilot and a computer scientist. In the trunk: 21 with the drugs fully Packed suitcase, a total of 600 kilograms of cocaine. It is the largest seizure of narcotics ever to take place on Swiss soil.
Suitcases filled with cocaine: The drug was hidden in the Luggage. Photo: PD
For the Swiss authorities, which came as a surprise. You have to react, “late at night” and “fast” on the information from the Croatian authorities, says the spokesman of the Federal police office Fedpol, Thomas Dayer. “The Big Boss himself was on the spot – a mistake from his side,” commented a Swiss policeman. “In principle, these high animals never make their hands dirty. To arrest him, was not planned, it was a pretty unique opportunity.”
The arrest of 60-year-old Montenegriners was a “pleasant Surprise,” says Colonel François Després of the French Gendarmerie. And the crowning glory of the current “Operation Familia”. “The delivery was monitored. After landing, we left the product on the Basel side. This corresponded to the scenario of the Czech and Croatian authorities.”
Here Dokovich was arrested with two accomplices: The Grand Casino Basel. Photo: Keystone
research in cooperation with the platform of European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) show how Dokovichs criminal activities work. How he smuggled for many years, cocaine in his private jet across Europe. And how the investigators came to the bottom of this.
cash in a Mercedes
The investigation into the Operation Familia start, according to Croatian sources by the end of 2017, and lead in October 2018 to a breakthrough: On the Croatian-Slovenian border, in the case of Zagreb, the customs officials found a Million Euro in cash in the chassis of a Mercedes. In The Car: Michael Dokovichs Girlfriend. The money will be confiscated, the official release Dokovichs girlfriend – and attach to your heels. In wiretapped phone calls your Partner boasts to have in the last few years, dozens of similar money transports organized.
not hidden this time, the Montenegrins with a long criminal past. On Facebook, he is posing openly as a jovial Hotelier, owner of a palatial establishment in Tuzi, Montenegro, near the Albanian border.
in fact, he operates according to investigators, trafficking of cocaine from his apartment in Zagreb under a variety of pseudonyms. Birth Name: Ilmija Frljuckic. One of his gang, a corrupt Croatian police officer who supplied him with information and helps him, using false identities to build.
His business Dokovich financed with the loot from the scams in the USA, and the turn of the Millennium in a big way. Its speed steel to this time, the PIN Codes out of a total of more than 20’000 Bank customers. Your mesh: Fake ATM machine, the card numbers and Codes of the user copy. His accomplices were arrested, including his brother. But Dokovich was able to flee to Europe, with millions of dollars in his suitcases.
South American contacts
The following years in the dark. It is clear that Dokovich to strengthen its ties to a powerful organization with Connections all over the world. Its network extends to Hong Kong, where the police seized in April of this year, 421 kilograms of cocaine, destined for Australia.
Dokovics right Hand, Petro “Pjer” Sarac, established contacts in South America and had even costa Rican Criminals to Zagreb flights. This direct exchange with South American cartels kings is a trademark of the new European Cocaine. “These groups from the Western Balkans to try, similar to how the Italians and Nigerians to act in front of them,” observed a Swiss policeman. “You are directly into South America, to negotiate, presumably, to either or to organize the Transport.”
According to several investigators, themselves Serbian, Montenegrin or Albanian organisations have developed to a strengthening of the power of the cocaine trade. It should be managed, direct distribution routes from South America to Europe without intermediaries to build, which minimizes the cost and reduces the risk of being caught.
During the Transport on container ships are becoming increasingly popular, selects Michael Dokovich the fastest method to distribute his material in the world: a private jet. At the beginning of 2019, he founded the airline MD Global Jet and Czech pilots, the VIP-passengers in the company of real flight carried crew to maintain the appearance of a reputable company.
Dokovich used according to the Federal court of private aircraft for the transportation of cocaine: The drug is on the 16. May Basel airport from Jet M-FISH unloaded. Photo: Europol
such As brisk Dokovich his Jets took advantage of, to show the flight movements of a Gulfstream V with the identifier of the M-FISH – the plane, with the Dokovich according to a ruling by the Federal criminal court on may 16. May suitcases filled with cocaine to be flown in left. And it was not the first trip to Switzerland: Since 2016, the M-FISH landed over a dozen Times on Swiss soil. The machine flew, for example, on 10. January 2019 from Albania to Geneva to Basel.
The private jet laid between October 2018 and March 2019, four long-haul flights to South America. The purpose of three of these South American flights, according to the court verdict: cocaine smuggling. 16. May, on the return flight from Uruguay to beat of the investigators in Basel, Switzerland. The Fedpol recorded the action as a big success. “Fedpol has played a key role in the exchange position of a fast information with the various countries involved,” says spokesman Thomas Dayer.
The double life as an alleged owner of a hotel and a private jet-an entrepreneur seems to be for Dokovich to be over now. He and his two accomplices are to be delivered to Croatia. The computer scientist was already at 4. October to the Croatian authorities transferred. The appointments of Dokovich and the pilots were on 29. October by the Federal criminal court rejected.
employees: Duc Quang Nguyen, Titus Plattner and Hannes von Wyl,
This is the third part of an international series of articles on cocaine. Read the first two stories here:
How gangs cocaine in Swiss ships to Europe
Criminal smuggling use a new transport method: “Rip-off” of cocaine hidden in container ships. A Geneva company is affected. (Subscription)
high-purity cocaine, Any other illegal flooded the Swiss market
drug brings so many consumers in the hospitals. The emergencies are becoming more frequent. (Subscription)
Created: 11.11.2019, 11:30 a.m.
