PODGORICA - Montenegrin Police Director Veselin Veljović has admitted that he met with Darko Šarić in the mid-1990s, but added that this was their only encounter
Veljović told Podgorica's Vijesti TV that the suspected drug kingpin did not enjoy the support of political and security structures in Montenegro.
The high ranking police offiical said he met Šarić while serving as police chief in the northern Montenegrin town of Pljevlja - Šarić's hometown - and that he "knew of Šarić because of the nature of the job".
Šarić was "prone to committing juvenile delinquency acts", said Veljović, and added that "after a rather serious criminal act", he "left" the country for a prolonged period of time.
Veljović denied accusations coming from opposition Movement for Changes leader Nebojša Medojević that he was "in constant contact" with the notorious fugitive, and said claims that Šarić financed the Montenegrin police Special Anti-terrorist Unit (SAJ) while Veljović was at its helm were "lies".
"Šarić was never at the SAJ camp in Zlatica, where I was commander for ten years. He never financed neither me personally, nor my associates and SAJ. Everything that's being said on that subject is a lie," said Veljović.
Šarić - a Montenegrin who received Serbian citizenship in the mid-2000s - is currently on the run. Šarić has been charged in Belgrade on suspicion that he masterminded an attempt in 2009 to smuggle nearly three tons of cocaine from South America to Europe. The shipment was intercepted in an international police raid dubbed Operation Balkan Warrior.
