Tobacco.org

• Djukanovic under a cloud of smoke 

He must be setting some kind of record, Milo Djukanovic, prime minister of Montenegro, simultaneously facing indictment in three foreign courts for his alleged involvement in massive tobacco smuggling operations over a decade while head of government or state.

SO FAR he seems safe from prosecution, and he vehemently refutes all charges, saying last month that whatever transpired was "just transit business which was done in line with the law." But the international noose may be tightening, with Italian, U.S. and European Union courts gripping strands of the rope.

The smuggling scheme portrayed in prosecution allegations in the United States and in Italy has three components. Major tobacco companies like R.J. Reynolds sold and shipped huge amounts of cigarettes to companies called Zetatrans and Montenegrin Tabak Transit, according to U.S. court documents. The shipments were then "licensed" for a fee of $30 a case (10,000 cigarettes) by the Montenegrin government, stored and transferred to "Italian organized crime groups" for transit to Italy and beyond in fast cargo craft, avoiding tariffs and import/export license fees. . . .

he is still seeking independence from the loose union called Serbia and Montenegro and is supported by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., and several Italian politicians.

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