HVO General Zdravko Šagolj Falls Due to Delivery of 500 Kilograms of Cocaine Seized in 2021 in the Port of Ploče

“Police in Ploče seized 500 kilograms of cocaine,” read the news published on April 14, 2021 in Croatian media. But no one was arrested for that cocaine, because no one claimed the shipment. The seized drugs were hidden in bananas on a ship that arrived from South America, Istraga.ba reports.

Three and a half years later, analysis of correspondence from the Sky application revealed who the drugs belonged to. EUROPOL provided the data to police agencies in BiH, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece and Ecuador, so arrests could begin. On Tuesday morning, a coordinated operation began across the Balkans. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were two main targets – Zdravko Šagolj from Čapljina and Branko Zelenika from Laktaši.

According to information from Istraga, Branko Zelenika fled just before the police operation. Zelenika was born in Banja Luka and lives in the settlement of Klašnice near Laktaši. Also from Laktaši is Srđan Jezdimir, who was arrested last week by Ecuadorian police for cocaine smuggling and money laundering. Jezdimir was part of this criminal group, and his job was to organize the production, packaging, and then preparation for smuggling cocaine to Europe in Ecuador. It was precisely this shipment of 500 kilograms of cocaine seized in Ploče that belonged to this criminal group, led by Serbian citizen Borislav Plavšić.

Part of the group was also Greek citizen Emmanouil Mathioudakis, who registered companies in Slovakia through which this group laundered money obtained from cocaine smuggling. From Serbia, Dragan Mikić, Uroš Kolaković and Nemanja Brašnjović also worked for this group. Serbian criminal Dragan Mikić had at least six false identities – Dragan Nikolić, Milan Kilibarda, Miloš Mikić, Marijan Kolar, Darjan Mikić and Milan Kolar. He used these passports to travel to South America to organize cocaine smuggling.

But let us now return to BiH. By unpacking the Sky application, it was discovered that Borislav Plavšić, together with Dragan Mikić, Uroš Kolaković, Srđan Jezdimir, and Nemanja Brašnjović, arranged the purchase of cocaine in Ecuador, South America. At that time, the purchase of 500 kilograms of cocaine was agreed upon, with a price of around 5,000 euros per kilogram. The smuggling was to be carried out via MAERSK companies, that is, through the company Prefer Europe SRO 21 NAM Sv. Imricha Storovo from Slovakia. The owner of this company was Greek citizen Emmanouil Mathioudakis.

The company through which the cocaine was imported

The drugs departed from Ecuador (where Srđan Jezdimir was in charge of operations), then via the port of Piraeus in Greece, to end up in the Port of Ploče in Croatia, where Croatian customs officer Zoran Erjauc was supposed to assist the smugglers. However, the delivery of 500 kilograms of cocaine failed at that point. Correspondence from Sky now reveals that the original plan was for the cocaine to reach Tuzla, via the company VM promet Co d.o.o. Tuzla, which was registered in the Mejdan hall.

To enable the smuggling of cocaine through the Port of Ploče, Serbian mafia boss Borislav Plavšić connected with HVO General Zdravko Šagolj Piska.

After reaching an agreement with Plavšić, General Šagolj contacted Croatian customs officer Zoran Erjauc. Plavšić and Erjauc exchanged information via Sky about where the shipment from Ecuador had reached, which container the cocaine was in, and which individuals would appear to pick up the container.

The cocaine was loaded onto the ship on February 7, 2021, in the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The shipping container, registered under number MNBU3410471, was owned by the ocean shipping company “Maersk”. The drugs were hidden in a container containing 21 tons of bananas, which, according to a prior agreement with Plavšić, was ordered by the company Prefer Europe from Slovakia. The goods first went through the transshipment port of Piraeus in Greece, and were then transported to the port of Ploče in Croatia. However, there in April of the same year, Croatian police seized 500 kilograms of cocaine.

Had it passed through the Port of Ploče, the drugs would have been transferred to the settlement of Petrovo on Ozren (near Doboj). Branko Zelenika was in charge of storage. Tihomir Gudelj and Marko Karlović from Čapljina were supposed to participate in transferring the drugs from Ploče to Ozren.