Nikola Ivančić: convicted cocaine smuggler in affair involving former Vice-President of Liberia
Nikola Ivančić, one of two Croatians sought by Liberian police, was convicted in 2019 to three years and five months for organising drug smuggling. According to 24sata, he is also suspected of attempting to import 2.3 tonnes of cocaine.
Convicted cocaine smuggler at centre of Liberian drug scandal
Nikola Ivančić, one of two Croatians wanted by Liberian police as part of an alleged drug affair involving former Liberian Vice-President Jewel Howard-Taylor, had already been convicted in Croatia for organising drug smuggling, 24sata reports.
Ivančić was a key figure in Operation Domald, in which the USKOK (state prosecutor's office for organised crime) in 2010 brought charges against 13 people — 12 Croatian citizens and one Peruvian citizen. According to the indictment, Ivančić organised a group that from 2005 to January 2009 smuggled large quantities of cocaine and heroin from Peru, Argentina and Ecuador into Croatia.
The drugs were transported with the help of "mules" — drug couriers — and in suitcases and parcels of cosmetics, clothing and handicrafts. The group transferred more than 27 kilograms of cocaine during that period. Ivančić was charged with obtaining illegally acquired assets worth two million kuna through drug dealing. An attempted smuggling of approximately 11 kilograms of cocaine was prevented.
During 2019, the Zagreb County Court imposed a single sentence of three years and five months imprisonment. Ivančić spent roughly the same amount of time in investigative custody between 2009 and 2012. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to repay two million kuna in illegally acquired assets.
In court at that time, he stated:
> "I am guilty, I did what I am accused of. I have a company in Germany, I live in an extramarital union and I have a small child. I regret everything and I have changed my life."
He only denied earning two million kuna from drugs. The court took this admission into account as a mitigating circumstance when imposing the sentence.
However, according to USKOK's suspicions, Ivančić continued criminal activity almost immediately after his conviction — this time together with Kristijan Palić, arrested in November 2023 in Turkey. USKOK brought charges against 20 people led by Palić under Operation Armageddon.
According to USKOK's allegations, Palić's group planned to import approximately 6.6 tonnes of cocaine with a market value of €197.8 million from October 2019 to April 2021. They successfully smuggled about 500 kilograms, estimated at a value of €15 million. Ivančić is suspected of participating in an attempted smuggling of approximately 2.3 tonnes of cocaine.
What exactly Liberian authorities suspect him of is unknown. Along with Ivančić and the former Liberian Vice-President Howard-Taylor, Liberian media also mention another Croatian, Mihovil Vrovac, and a Ukrainian woman, Tara Zaderieko.
Source: 24sata