Montenegro Customs holding Millennium Team vehicles

Pobjeda quoted unnamed sources who said the military-grade trucks were being imported as construction machinery by the company which is alleged to have close ties to the Serbian regime. The port of Bar is used by Serbian companies for imports shipped by sea.

The daily said that more than 20 of those trucks were seized by customs in Bar. The Montenegrin Customs Administration told Pobjeda that the declaration for the vehicles said they are construction machinery and confirmed that they were not meant to be sold in Montenegro. The daily’s sources said they are military trucks made to carry rocket launchers which were removed before shipping. The daily’s unofficial sources said the vehicles originated in Shanghai, adding that there is a possibility that “the launchers could be bought separately or have already been purchased”. The trucks were painted yellow on the outside with their insides in the shades of green used by the military.

The Customs Administration has asked for additional documentation on the type of vehicles and their final destination. Pobjeda said the vehicles have received permits to continue on to Serbia.

The Customs Administration did not specify which company imported the trucks or whether they came from China. Pobjeda said it got no reply on its request for comments from the Port of Bar authority.

The Millennium Team company denied that the vehicles and other equipment were meant for military use, saying they were solely civilian. In its reply to Pobjeda, the company said it was buying and importing construction machinery and trucks from China for the construction of the EXPO 2027. It added that it bought 24 vehicles, 20 of which are already in Serbia. “We expect the remaining four trucks and cranes to go through regular customs procedures in the next few days,” it said.

The daily’s sources warned that the Montenegrin authorities should be cautious in light of the fact that Serbia is seen as a threat to the stability of the Western Balkans, recalling that President Aleksandar Vucic has been speaking of procuring more weaponry for months.

Millennium team was set up in 2003 as a company trading in food and waste but has diversified into a number of other industries. Official records show that it is owned by Ivan Bosnjak and Stojan Vujko but Pobjeda said that those men could just be figureheads and added that they are close to Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and his brother Predrag.
The specialized EXPO 2027 is a major project for the Serbian authorities with plans to build major infrastructure at a cost of an estimated 17 billion Euro.