By Sally Rawsthorne and Perry Duffin
A former Sydneysider once described as a “kingpin” of smuggling drugs into Australia has been arrested in the Balkans, accused by Montenegrin authorities of masterminding a plot to import almost 2.5 tonnes of cocaine from Colombia to Australia and Europe.
Vaso Ulic, 65, was arrested in a dramatic sting codenamed “General” in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica on Wednesday. Ten people were picked up in the months-long joint operation between the local authorities, the Australian Federal Police and America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency, according to local media.
Vaso Ulic being arrested this week in Montenegro.Credit: Libertas Press/Savo Prelević
Ulic remains on remand in prison in Montenegro and has denied any wrongdoing, Libertas Press reported.
Australian law enforcement sources not authorised to speak publicly have confirmed Ulic’s arrest. He was previously considered an Australian Priority Organisational Target (APOT) by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, but was no longer regarded as such at the time of his arrest, law enforcement sources confirmed.
Ulic’s son, Nikola Ulic, was also picked up by police, law enforcement sources have confirmed.
The group had allegedly planned to smuggle 1570 kilograms of cocaine from South America to Australia and Europe at the height of the pandemic in October 2020.
That shipment “was intercepted by the detection authorities in Colombia”, and was allegedly followed by another 900-kilogram shipment in June 2021, which was intercepted by the detection authorities of Australia, Vukas Radonjic of the Montenegrin Special Prosecution Service told local media on Wednesday, Montenegrin time.
While Australia does not have an extradition treaty with Montenegro, extraditions are possible through a legal regulation. Montenegro does not extradite its own citizens.
The AFP were contacted for comment. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not respond to questions about whether it was assisting an Australian citizen arrested in Montenegro.
Ulic was also arrested in Podgorica on drugs charges in 2017. At the time, then-AFP organised crime commander Bruce Hill told reporters: “We can categorically, without any doubt, say he is one of the kingpins if not the kingpin of bringing drugs to Australia, and it’s not limited to ecstasy. He does cocaine, he does meth. It’s a compilation and then the money laundering aspect that goes with that so he’s a very sophisticated high-level crime figure.”
Vaso Ulic after his arrest in Montenegro in 2017.
“It is suspected Mr Ulic led a global criminal syndicate suspected of smuggling drugs and firearms into Australia. His alleged activities were mostly based in Sydney, NSW, but also extended to Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia,” the AFP said in a statement after Ulic’s 2017 arrest.
Born in Albania, Ulic immigrated to Australia in the early 1970s and worked on Kings Cross’ Golden Mile. He returned to the Balkans in the early 2000s, moving to Montenegro where he established a home on the capital’s outskirts featuring a private vineyard with vines imported from South Australia.
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