TheTimesTribune.com, Corbin, KY
CORBIN —
By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer
Recorded telephone taps played in the trial of five charged in a multi-state drug conspiracy demonstrated how the 13 charged in an indictment handled their organization.
Testimony in London’s U.S. District Court Thursday began with an officer from the Indianapolis police department who is part of the city’s Drug Enforcement Administration’s task force.
Paul Buchman told of his search of Emir Dadanovic’s apartment in Indianapolis.
Dadanovic is considered the leader of the drug group.
The apartment was searched in late October 2009. Dadanovic had been arrested in Oct. 13 and a key taken at his arrest was used for entry into the dwelling.
Buchman said the home was nearly empty with one bedroom being used for storage and exercise equipment, the other with a bed and a clothing storage unit.
The living room had a large television, a couch and some other minimal furniture, Buchman said.
There were two vehicles in a two-car garage, a BMW 745-I and a 1970 Chevelle.
Search in the entire apartment turned up what looked like a baby food jar with what appeared to be marijuana in it.
An automatic currency counter was found in a kitchen cabinet. In a trash bag, a document that was torn into at least 243 pieces was found.
The officer pieced it together and it was shown as evidence in the trial. Some parts of it showed mathematic figures, mostly subtraction. He said it could have been a drug ledger.
In cross examination by Dadanovic’s lawyer, W. Currie Milliken, the officer testified that no drugs, guns, plastic bags or Saran Wrap was found.
The four others standing trial had been arrested by the time of the search, Omer Dugalic, Oct. 13. Jerdin Ovidio Yaneson Oct. 14 and Kemal Dugalic and Donta Hamilton on Oct. 16.
Later testimony by DEA Special Agent Jerel Hughes, using clips from telephone taps, brought to light the activities of O. Dugalic, Yanes, K. Dugalic and Hamilton along with Dadanovic’s management.
Hughes told the jury of what was said in the calls that were made in foreign languages and explained the drug slang.
O. Dugalic and K. Dugalic essentially worked as sales persons.
Hamilton and Yanes seemed to be the suppliers of cocaine to Dadanovic.
The first clip was of Yanes and Dadanovic discussing with each other the cost of a kilogram of cocaine. Depending on the quality of the drug, it was priced from $30,000 to $33,000.
Conversations followed, one with Yanes trying to borrow money from K. Dugalic, who replied that he was trying to collect money himself, Hughes explained.
Another call was between K. Dugalic and Dzevad Azvid.
Azvid, charged in the indictment and arrested Nov. 3, 2009, pleaded guilty to an information and the count in the indictment was dismissed.
He, apparently was also a cocaine salesman.
K. Dugalic was telling him that the $4,400 he had collected in $20 bills was the wrong denomination and would look like it had come to a drug dealer and can’t be taken to a bank.
A May 15, 2009 call between K. Dugalic and O. Dugalic discussed some bad cocaine that had been acquired.
At about that time the drug dealers may have gotten the idea that heat from the DEA was on and they discussed moving their operation from Columbus, Ohio to Cincinnati.
The operation was spread from London to Crosslands, W.Va. where Hamilton operated a T-shirt shop, Indianapolis where Dadanovic lived, Pittsburgh, Penn., Columbus and Indianapolis.
By late May, DEA had been well into the investigation and had already made several controlled purchases near London.
So, after hearing the conversations from taps on both landline and cell phones, the group from London began surveillance of the parties in this area, particularly K. Dugalic.
They had followed him to Crosslands, W.Va., where at about midnight he was seen getting a white trash bag from Hamilton.
About an hour later, at 1:13 a.m., he spoke on the phone with Dadanovic and seemed nervous because he was afraid he would be caught with contraband, Hughes said.
Dadanovic told him where to meet at the hotel in Columbus.
All the while the Dugalics and Dadanovic were under surveillance by the Columbus DEA task force.
Earlier in the trial, those officers testified about that surveillance and entered into evidence photographs they had made.
Testimony as to the phone taps will be continued Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and it is expected the prosecution will rest.
Others charged in the indictment were Halil Batlak, who was named Thursday as a cocaine delivery person. He was arrested Oct. 14, 2009, and pleaded guilty to one count on April 30, this year.
Mladen Bjelogravic, arrested on Oct. 14, 2009, pleaded guilty on Aug. 9, this year.
Earnestina Hajric, girlfriend of K. Dugalic, was arrested Oct. 13, 2009, and pleaded guilty Aug. 9.
Shane Page was arrested Oct. 14, 2009 and pleaded guilty Aug. 9.
Also charged in the indictment, but still apparently at large are Miralem Dervisbegovic, Ifran Demerovi and Oscar Maruricio Cordova-Hernande.
