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Thirty years in prison for trafficking cocaine on cruise ship

Italian media reports that 3 people involved in drug trafficking are sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment and a 180,000 euro fine for importing ten kilos of cocaine from South America through a crew member of the cruise ship MSC Armonia. The Judge sentenced to ten years in prison and a 60,000 euro fine each Bosnians Mihalovič Zoran Jaksic (52 years), Mladen Miljanic (42) and Braim Sirani (55). The judges accepted the requests made by the public prosecutor Angela Masiello, who has fought for the highest sentence of the three suspects. Implicated in the affair there were four other people, in particular, the sailor of the cruise ship departed from Punta dell'Este in Uruguay and arrived at the port of Venice on 6 April 2009.

According to investigators of the Guardia di Finanza, Zoran organized the expedition from South America to Italy, Mileta Miljanic, already sentenced to seven years with the summary procedure; Mladen, a relative of Mileta and one who was busy in finding the buyer of large quantities of cocaine. Investigators were able to block the import of the ten kilos of cocaine, controlling Mladen Miljanic, who lived in Milan and who often traveled from Milan to Belgrade, capital of Serbia.

They listen to his phone calls and also placing some bugs to record interviews in closed rooms, and they found out that the cocaine was coming to Venice by cruise ship sailing from Uruguay. After arriving in Venice, the 28-year old sailor Dejan Ivanovic (who was also convicted), was directed to deliver the cocaine in a Hotel in Venice. During the first interrogation the sailor had reported having been asked by the ship's cook, who landed in Buenos Aires due to illness, to take the drugs to Venice and deliver it to a person that had passed him the phone. All this in exchange for 10,000 Euros. The others were identified and later arrested by the police.