At the border crossings with Serbia this morning, there were crowds and increased controls of passengers entering from Montenegro, while around 30 Montenegrin citizens were detained tonight at the Belgrade airport after arriving from Podgorica, the Podgorica media reported, referring to the statements of eyewitnesses.
The competent authorities of Serbia have not yet officially explained the reasons for the detention, and this reaction followed yesterday after 87 men from Serbia were returned from Tivat due to the assessment that they are a security threat.
They arrived in Tivat on a charter flight of the Serbian national airline two days before the EU-Western Balkans summit, which is attended by the highest officials of the EU, member states of the Union and the region.
According to Podgorica Vijesti, around 30 Montenegrin citizens who landed from Podgorica an hour after midnight were detained at the Nikola Tesla airport in Belgrade.
The editor of the Podgorica daily, Dušan Cicmil, one of the passengers on the flight from Podgorica, said that, without any official explanation, men with Montenegrin passports were deprived of their personal documents, that they were taken to a special room.
No official information
Crowds at the border crossings with Serbia, when entering Montenegro, were recorded this morning as well, and the reason is "rigorous and detailed controls" of the border police of Serbia, RTCG Portal reported.
This media reports that certain persons have been returned from the border. There are no delays on the Montenegrin side of the border, where they say they have no official information about the reasons for the tighter controls when crossing into Serbia.
Yesterday, the Montenegrin security services banned the entry of 87 men, citizens of Serbia, because they determined that some of them had been registered as perpetrators of criminal acts.
A "Serbia is winning" banner, a remote communication device and a marine radio station were found with them, and two buses with Serbian license plates were also detained, which the police suspect were intended to transport these people through Montenegro.
The security intelligence services of Montenegro recognized this event as an attempt at "malign action" and "undermining the stability of the state and slowing down European integration processes."
EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat
The incident with persons recorded in criminal files happened the day before the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, which will bring together the highest officials of the EU member states, the EU summit and the region.
Among the participants are the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgio Meloni, and many other European and regional leaders.
More than 1.500 policemen have been deployed in Tivat to ensure the safety of the Summit participants.
The police say that "by engaging all available police forces, capacities, human resources, techniques and strategic systems, together with the intelligence and security sector - the National Security Agency, the Intelligence and Security Directorate of the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Montenegro, they will undertake all legally prescribed measures and actions that guarantee the safe and secure holding of this important international event."
Source: Beta
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