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Montenegrin police arrests 20 Serbs for planning terror act

Xinhua, October 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Twenty people from Serbia have been arrested on Sunday in Montenegro and suspected for intention of performing terror act during the parliamentary election in Montenegro, police directorate of Montenegro and the prosecution announced.

Director of the police directorate Slavisa Stojanovic stated in a press release on Sunday that this group entered Montenegro with an intention to take over hidden automatic weapons and to perform an attack on "institutions of the country's system, police and representatives of institutions, not excluding high state officials" on Sunday night, when the first preliminary results of the election are to be announced.

He stated in the release that the arrest was performed in cooperation with the Agency for National Security of Montenegro under the order of the Special State Prosecutor.

Montenegrin prosecution revealed their suspicions that the criminal organization was formed in Serbia and Montenegro at the beginning of October "with an aim to influence legislative and executive authorities".

"B.D arrived in Montenegro yesterday in the early morning hours with an intention to realize the criminal plan, and take command over the armed group," the release reads.

According to the release, the suspects arrived in Podgorica, capital of Montenegro, where they split into three groups and planned to distribute weapons that they prepared earlier among themselves so that they could continue with the plan.

They were arrested the moment when they went to check the secret warehouse with weapons and ammunition that they brought with them, the release explains.

"We suspect the plan of the organization was to perform armed attack on the gathered citizens and police during the announcement of election results in front of the Montenegrin parliament, to take over the building of the parliament with an intention to declare a victory for certain political parties," the release reads.

The prosecution continues that the plan was to arrest Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic.

Serbian and Montenegrin media speculate that behind initials of B.D stands Bratislav Dikic, former chief of Serbian special police forces (gendarmerie).

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic briefly commented that the arrest comes at a "strange moment" but that the Serbian government does not have any more information about the incident, and that Dikic who is allegedly arrested is a pensioner now.

Speaking to journalists in Vranjska Banja in the south of Serbia, Vucic said that he heard about the arrest from Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and that he will leave the rest of his comment for Monday, in order not to interfere in the election process in Montenegro.

Parliamentary elections in Montenegro, where Djukanovic fights for his seventh mandate since 1991, started at 7 a.m. on Sunday and will end by 8 p.m.. A number of 17 parties and coalitions will fight for 81 parliamentary seats. Endit