Under threat of weapons: Representatives of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee robbed in Rio

Official of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee Nikola Đurović, representative of the diplomatic-consular mission of Montenegro in Argentina, which is responsible for Brazil, Miljan Mugoša, and two representatives of the Montenegrin diaspora, Božidar Šaranović from America and Nikolas Vukasović from Argentina (Santa Fe province), were attacked last night in Rio de Janeiro, near the airport, announced the Montenegrin Olympic Committee (COK), reports Vijesti.me, as carried by the Bosnian news agency Patria.

- While returning from the airport, where the COK official and the official of the diplomatic-consular mission of Montenegro in Argentina had picked up Vukasović, who arrived to visit the Olympic team, in an official Olympic Games vehicle assigned to COK by the Organizing Committee, their car was hit by a vehicle carrying armed robbers - the statement said.

Under threat of weapons, all personal belongings and the official IOC vehicle were stolen from the three of them.

- Thanks to the very composed and level-headed reaction of the diplomatic-consular mission official and the COK official, an incident with more severe consequences was avoided, and no one was injured.

Immediately after the incident, the Brazilian police arrived at the scene, conducted an investigation, and escorted them to the hotel where representatives of Olympic committees and IOC officials are accommodated.

The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games has been informed of the serious incident, and representatives of our Olympic mission will hold an emergency meeting with them regarding the incident.

The Embassy of Montenegro in Argentina, which is responsible for consular affairs in Brazil, will send a protest note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil.

COK anticipated that such situations could occur, as stated in the further announcement, and precisely for that reason, it called upon the representative of our diplomatic-consular mission in Argentina to be at the service of our citizens and help them more easily resolve problems they might face during their stay in Brazil.

COK expressed concern over the security situation and voiced great concern about the way the organizers addressed the security issue for Olympic Games participants and representatives of the Olympic family.

COK once again recommended that Montenegrin athletes not move outside the secured competition zones unless necessary.