ISSUE 7 | APRIL–MAY 2021
OBSERVATORY OF ILLICIT ECONOMIES IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTS
1. Shadow of the mountain: organized crime 3. Digital dangers: warning signs from around the Jahorina winter resort. North Macedonia. The ski resort at Jahorina, close to Sarajevo, As more people go online for communicating, was busy during the winter of 2020–2021 shopping and searching for information, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The they also become targets for predatory and mountain is famous as the location of criminal behaviour. This trend has accelerated the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. In during the COVID-19 crisis, with young the 1990s, after the war in Bosnia and people being particularly vulnerable. In late Herzegovina, the Jahorina region suffered January 2021, police in North Macedonia from underdevelopment and was known as broke up a group of more than 7 000 people a criminal hideout. Today, it is a place where who were using the Telegram messaging high-profile criminals spend their time and app to share explicit pictures and videos of where corrupt officials want to invest or women and girls. This is the second time in launder their money. This article looks at the two years that the group has been taken reasons why Jahorina has become an unlikely down. Similar cases were also reported in hotspot of organized crime and corruption. Serbia in March, when several offenders were arrested for sharing child abuse material. As 2. Cocaine goes ‘bananas’ on the Adriatic coast. discussed in this article, such cases show the A number of major drug busts in Croatia and growing dangers of tech-facilitated crime, Albania over the past few months shows including cyberbullying, sexual exploitation that there is a tsunami of cocaine coming and sextortion in the Western Balkans, and through Adriatic ports. Most of the drugs are the challenges faced by law enforcement. hidden in containers transporting bananas from Latin America to Europe. While cocaine 4. Western Balkan criminal groups in Greece. consumption in the Western Balkans is In recent years, Greece has become a theatre relatively low, these seizures – as well as past for a wide range of illicit activities carried out trends – show that ports in Albania, Croatia by criminal groups from the Western Balkans. and Montenegro are important entry points Its ports and proximity to the Western for the cocaine pipeline into Europe. Major Balkans make it an attractive entry point seizures may indicate more effective law for the smuggling of cocaine, while it is also enforcement, but they may also be a sign a market and transit country for cannabis
RISK BULLETIN that the so-called ‘protection economy’ that smuggled from Albania. Since 2015, it has enables drug trafficking is being disrupted. This also been a key gateway for the smuggling of article looks at a recent spate of big seizures migrants, particularly into North Macedonia and considers what could be behind them. and Albania. This article shows that Greece is a further example of how the transnational tentacles of crime spread out from the Western Balkans around the world. 5. Unburying guns from Albania’s past. 6. Community Building Mitrovica: An open In April 2021, police in Albania made two major door for young people. seizures of weapons in the capital, Tirana. Most More than 20 years after the war in Kosovo, of the weapons date from when the arsenals were Mitrovica continues to be a divided city with looted during civil unrest in the country in 1997. a Kosovo-Albanian community located in the It is believed that the vast majority of killings southern part and a Kosovo-Serbian community related to organized crime that have taken place in the northern part of the city, separated by the in Albania since 1997 have been carried out using Ibar river. Tensions between the communities guns stolen from the old arsenals. This article remain and rule of law is weak. As a result, the looks at the legacy of that problem and what the region continues to have a reputation as being a Albanian government is doing about it. haven for organized crime. Community Building Mitrovica is a civil society organization that works with young people in the city to increase their resilience to organized crime. In our regular series of profiling the work of such organizations, we talk to two leaders of the initiative.
ABOUT THIS ISSUE
Welcome to the seventh issue of the Risk Bulletin Building on the GI-TOC’s flagship publication produced by the Observatory of Illicit Economies in ‘Transnational tentacles: Global hotspots of Western South Eastern Europe of the Global Initiative Against Balkan organized crime’, we occasionally review other Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). countries that were not covered by that report. In this issue, we look at the activities of criminal groups from The hotspot that we profile in this issue does not have the Western Balkans in Greece, particularly trafficking many of the characteristics of the usual locations that of drugs and the smuggling of migrants. we look at, namely socio-economic vulnerability, a strategic location along trafficking routes or weak On 1 April 2021, Albanian police carried out two governance. Rather, Jahorina and its famous ski resort is operations that resulted in the seizure of a large cache a popular destination near Sarajevo, making it a magnet of military weapons and ammunition, including sniper for criminals on holiday as well as for corrupt officials rifles, anti-tank weapons, Kalashnikov automatic rifles, looking for a profit. silent pistols, police and military radio scanners, ammunition and explosives. According to the police, In the first quarter of 2021 there have been a number of this arsenal was for sale and was the source of some major drug busts in Adriatic ports. We examine the flow weapons that had been used for contract killings in of cocaine from Latin America to Western Europe recent years. We look at the legacy of more than half through the Western Balkans and analyze what the a million weapons that were looted from arsenals increase in seizures could indicate. during the civil unrest in 1997 and what steps the Albanian government is taking to address this danger. Thanks to increased digitalization, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are spending time As part of our regular series profiling the work of civil and money online. This is convenient, but it is also society organizations strengthening resilience to potentially dangerous: data can be stolen or exploited; organized crime in the Western Balkans, we talk to gaming platforms and social media are being abused to two leaders of the NGO Community Building groom children for sexual harassment and exploitation; Mitrovica on their work in the divided community of and young people are vulnerable to harmful and violent Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. content, cyberbullying and radicalization. We analyze the warning signs in North Macedonia, as well as what is As always, we welcome potential contributions to the being done to address this threat. In May 2021, the Risk Bulletin. If you have a proposal for a story or GI-TOC will issue a comprehensive report on the would like to provide feedback, please contact commercial sexual exploitation of children in the [email protected]. Western Balkans.
RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 7 • APR–MAY 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 2 To Croatia E75 E661 E70 Banja E73 Luka A1
M4 E763 Tuzla A2 E73 Loznica M4 Karakaj/Mali Zvornik Zvornik
E661 SERBIA Han Pijesak E763 A1 Sokolac BOSNIA AND E761 E761 Uzice HERZEGOVINA Pale Rogatica Vardiste/Kotroman Sarajevo M5 Visegrad Airport Rudo/Uvac E73 Rudo Priboj C R O A T IA Čajniče Granični Prelaz Metaljka Foča E763 Mostar Pljevlja Hum
E73 E762 International MONTENEGRO boundary M20 Entity boundary Bileća E65 Country capital Niksic E65 Town/village Trebinje E80 KOSOVO E762 Adriatic Sea E73 Major road
Other road N E80 ALBANIA
FIGURE 1 The Jahorina region in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1. Shadow of the mountain: organized crime around the Jahorina winter resort.
Jahorina, 28 kilometres from Sarajevo, is known as the At first glance, it does not seem that Jahorina should mountain where the 1984 Winter Olympic Games took be vulnerable to organized crime. The modern resort place. It is a popular ski resort; tourists even flocked to has a good reputation, well-maintained facilities and a its slopes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter proud history as an Olympic centre. But the very fact of 2020–2021. But the area around Jahorina also seems that the resort is considered a rare jewel in an to attract criminals, most recently on 12 February 2021 economically depressed region seems to have made when three members of the Škaljari clan were arrested in it attractive for corrupt officials as well as tourists. the town on suspicion of planning the assassination of the head of the rival Kavač clan. What makes the region a magnet for organized crime and corruption?
RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 7 • APR–MAY 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 3 Investigative journalists have reported on irregularities Slobodan Milutinović (known as ‘Slobo the Sniper’) in procurement, privatization, building and renovation from Novi Sad, Serbia, was arrested in Jahorina.9 And, processes in lucrative infrastructure projects in the as noted, on 12 February 2021 three members of the region.1 A great deal of public money – at least €55 Škaljari clan were arrested for planning the million in the past five years – has also flowed into the assassination of a leading figure of the rival Kavač clan, area, not always in a transparent way.2 It has been Radoje Zvicer (who had survived an assassination reported that local officials from the surrounding attempt in Kyiv in May 2020). Zvicer was supposedly municipalities of Pale and East New Sarajevo, as well as on holiday with his family at the ski resort. officials from the government of the Republic of Srpska, have participated in the purchase of land and facilities, There are other indications of criminal activity in the construction of infrastructure facilities (such as ski lifts) region. On several occasions, police have seized and the procurement of equipment for hotels.3 The weapons and drugs in raids in Pale and East Sarajevo.10 region is also a magnet for foreign investment; some of And in 2018, a man was arrested for facilitating the the major construction projects are allegedly attractive theft of weapons from the barracks of the Armed for money laundering.4 It is perhaps no wonder that the Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Pale. According to municipalities of Pale and East New Sarajevo have been the indictment, the man, who worked at the barracks, squabbling about who controls the lucrative tax took 27 optical scopes for rifles and two suppressors revenues from Mount Jahorina.5 and sold them to members of criminal groups near Sokolac.11 Investments and improvements in the Jahorina area are welcome because the region was devastated by the Since 2004, several organized criminal groups have war of the 1990s, such as during the siege of Sarajevo. developed in the area, particularly around East In the post-conflict environment, the area around Sarajevo. They have been involved in car theft, Jahorina, including Pale, East New Sarajevo and Sokolac trafficking in drugs and extortion. As their wealth, suffered from low socio-economic development, poor power and reputations grew, they manged to launder infrastructure and weak governance. This, combined their money into the local economy and use their with relatively difficult terrain, made the region power to influence local politicians, members of the vulnerable to organized crime, both home-grown and police and the media. A number of well-coordinated as a place for criminals (including war criminals) to hide law enforcement operations, code-named Jahorina, out or plan their operations in the region. Kargo and Lutka, resulted in breaking up several organized criminal groups in 2013.12 This seems to have had some nasty side effects. Between 1998 and 2008, there were 14 murders in the The ecosystem of crime and corruption around Jahorina region, most of which were suspected to be Jahorina shows the legacy of the recent history of the result of disputes among criminals, but few of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the temptation of which have been resolved. Not only were a number of corruption. But it also illustrates the evolution of crime senior law enforcement officials killed in the region in in the country; from regions of post-conflict instability that decade, but there were also several professional- to an ecosystem of organized corruption where style hits on civilians.6 political, business and criminal actors rub shoulders. Unlike in the 1990s, the Jahorina region now seems to Recent arrests show that the Jahorina region remains a be a place where high-profile criminals like to hang out magnet for criminals. In July 2020, a man named Nikola rather than to hide out – and where corrupt officials Ivović from Montenegro was arrested in Pale on want to invest, rather than neglect. One would hope suspicion of having committed a murder in Herceg that in the future this region could attract a less Novi.7 In August 2020, police in East Sarajevo arrested notorious clientele and recapture the positive attention a man believed to be a member of the Škaljari clan, and reputation that the Jahorina region enjoyed in along with five other citizens from Serbia, Montenegro 1984 during the Winter Olympic Games. and Bosnia and Herzegovina.8 In March 2021,
RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 7 • APR–MAY 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 4 2. Cocaine goes ‘bananas’ on the Adriatic coast. Major drug busts in Croatia and Albania over the past 478 kilograms of cocaine were taken out of a few months show that there is a tsunami of cocaine container that had arrived from Peru.20 As part of a coming through the Adriatic ports. Most of the drugs joint operation with the Italian and Slovenian police, are hidden in containers transporting bananas from the container was resealed and thanks to the Latin America to Europe. While cocaine consumption controlled delivery, several arrests were later made, in the Western Balkans is relatively low, these including of suspected leaders from the Calabria seizures, taken together with past trends, show that region of Italy.21 Further arrests related to this seizure ports in Albania, Croatia and Montenegro are were made in February 2021.22 important entry points for the cocaine pipeline into Europe.13 In March 2018, in the port of Rijeka, police seized 100 packages of cocaine found in a container in which there This illustrates how organized criminal groups from were 20 tonnes of mixed metal waste. The cocaine was the Western Balkans have, over the past decade, purchased in Panama and then shipped to Croatia. become actively involved not only in distributing Several arrests were made, particularly of people from cocaine in the Western Balkans and the EU, but also Croatia and Slovenia, including Stjepan Prnjat, a in organizing large shipments of cocaine directly from Croatian citizen originally from Zenica in Bosnia and Latin America.14 Some of these shipments head for Herzegovina, known as the Croatian Escobar.23 In their ports in Western Europe, the Black Sea or Greece but investigation, police found a network of Zagreb-based others are coming into the Western Balkans on companies that were importing cocaine in containers of container ships. fruit and scrap metal.24
At the end of March 2021, more than half a tonne of Ploce and Rijeka are not the only Adriatic ports being cocaine worth around €50 million was discovered at inundated with cocaine. Down the coast, in the port of Ploce in southern Croatia hidden in a Montenegro, the port of Bar has, in the past, been a container of bananas. This was the most recent and notorious entry point for the drug. For example, in largest seizure of several cocaine shipments that have June 2014 police seized 250 kilograms of cocaine that come through Ploce. had been shipped to Bar from Ecuador in a banana container. 25 Between 2015 and 2019, on at least three In June 2020, in Bacina near Ploce, 25 kilograms of occasions, more than 30 kilograms of cocaine were high-purity cocaine were seized from a passenger discovered in containers that had originated in South vehicle; the driver of the car, an Italian citizen, was America.26 In April 2019, Montenegrin authorities arrested.15 Subsequently, a number of arrests were seized 50 kilograms of drugs on a naval training ship made in Croatia and Italy. According to police, this in the port of Tivat.27 group smuggled at least 146 kilograms of cocaine.16 In Albania, the port of Durres is a hub for drug In March 2021, the police in Dubrovnik exhibited almost smuggling. On 10 April 2021, 143 kilograms of 73 kilograms of high-purity cocaine that had been cocaine were seized in the port in a container full of seized.17 The cocaine was also found in a container full bananas. The container had originated in Ecuador of bananas imported from South America.18 and had travelled via the mafia-controlled port of Gioia Tauro in Italy. A few days earlier, on 1 April, Ploce is considered vulnerable because it has a high 49 kilograms of cocaine were also seized in the volume of banana imports – around 1 200 containers port of Durres, again from a container coming from a year – with little capacity to check them. This should Ecuador. These two seizures of almost 200 kilograms soon be rectified with the recent investment in a of cocaine in the first quarter of 2021 exceeded the mobile X-ray device.19 entire amount of cocaine seized in Albania in 2019 and 2020 combined. In 2018, a record 613 kilograms In the past, major drug busts have been made in the of cocaine were seized in the port of Durres in a port of Rijeka in northern Croatia. In January 2017, shipment of bananas coming from Colombia.
RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 7 • APR–MAY 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 5 In Albania, as in Croatia and Montenegro, very few of Drug trafficking in the Western Balkans, as elsewhere, the people ordering the shipments of cocaine have depends upon political protection, which (for a price) been caught. The administrators of the fruit import allows the trafficking machine to run smoothly: companies usually claim that they had no knowledge violence is kept in check and the product moves that cocaine was being hidden inside the same without obstacles. A low number of seizures, like a containers as their loads of produce. Technically, this limited amount of violence, suggests an efficient is quite possible if criminals can have access to the market. Such protection networks often form in containers after they have been packed with fruit, but contexts where high-value flows (such as drugs) pass before they have been loaded onto the ships.28 through areas of weak or corrupt governance and may involve a high degree of complicity by state But what do these seizures tell us? Is there more actors, members of the security services or police cocaine coming through the region than in the past? and port officials.29 If a key political patron dies or Latin American supply and European demand are leaves office, then the hand of protection is lifted, certainly high. Is law enforcement becoming more and law enforcement can do its job. Seizures can effective? This could be a factor, as countries like therefore indicate that the protection economy is Croatia and Albania, for example, work more closely being disrupted. It may also point to more with bilateral partners or EUROPOL and as police competition within the market as groups look for become more efficient at cracking encrypted new routes and allies or provide tip-offs to knock messaging systems. It may also point to more out other traffickers. effective intelligence-led policing and container security in key ports. Clearly, container traffic has not been affected by lockdowns, there is a high demand for cocaine in But an increase in seizures, as well as a growing Europe, and Adriatic ports are considered relatively number of high-profile arrests in some countries of low-risk entry points. But maybe the increase in the region, may also indicate holes in the umbrella of seizures and arrests also points to some tectonic protection that has enabled criminal groups from the shifts in criminal markets and protection economies Western Balkans to operate with impunity in the past. in the Western Balkans.
The seizure of 143 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Durres on 10 April 2021 during the police operation code named ‘El Mejor’. Photo: Albanian State Police.
RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 7 • APR–MAY 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 6 LATIN AMERICA 2 8 6 3 VENEZUELA COLOMBIA 7 7 ECUADOR BRAZIL PERU 6 6 BOLIVIA
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2 ALBANIA