R Isk B U Lletin

ISSUE 4 | JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2021 THE CIVIL SOCIETY OBSERVATORY TO COUNTER ORGANIZED CRIME IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTS 1. Vranje, an emerging criminal hotspot. 4. Islands of resilience: civil society Since 2019, the name of one city keeps organizations in the Western Balkans. popping up in media and police reports These are hard times for civil society about drug trafficking and migrant smuggling: organizations (CSOs) in the Western Balkans. Vranje, in southern Serbia. We look at how In many places, CSOs dealing with organized and why Vranje has become a hotspot for crime and corruption are under pressure from organized crime. governments and threatened by people involved in corrupt or illicit activity. Furthermore, the 2. Guns for gangs in Sweden: the Balkan COVID-19 crisis has made it difficult for CSOs connection. to have face-to-face contact with many of the The notorious Yugoslav mafia, the individuals and groups that they normally work ‘Juggemaffian’, that dominated the organized with, like women, youth, former prisoners or crime landscape in Sweden in the 1990s addicts. We explore some of the challenges and is long gone, but Sweden continues to feel opportunities for strengthening resilience to the impact of organized crime from the organized crime and corruption in the Western Western Balkans. A spate of deadly gang- Balkans, based on a cross-regional workshop related violence in the past few years is held in mid-December 2020 and the findings fuelled in part by guns and grenades from of a forthcoming Global Initiative Against the Balkans. Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) report. 3. Taking a gamble in North Macedonia. 5. Neostart, a place for a second chance. While Albania and Kosovo have taken There are about 12 000 prisoners in Serbia; steps since 2019 to abolish gambling in their around 8 000 of them are released from countries because of its links to organized prison each year. Yet the rate of recidivism is crime, the number of electronic casinos between 60% and 75%, meaning that many will and betting shops in North Macedonia has end up back in prison. Neostart, a centre for doubled. Gambling is potentially lucrative, crime prevention and post-penal assistance, but it brings with it risks associated with is a non-governmental organization in Serbia addiction, money laundering and the potential that is reducing recidivism by helping former harm to historic tourist destinations such offenders reintegrate into society. We talk to as Ohrid. its director, Darjan Vulevic, about their work RISK BULLETIN and challenges and successes. ABOUT THIS ISSUE Happy New Year! Welcome to the fourth issue of the Risk to counteract corruption and organized crime. From 14 Bulletin produced by the Civil Society Observatory to to 16 December 2020, the GI-TOC brought together Counter Organized Crime in South Eastern Europe. As in more than 50 representatives of non-governmental every issue, we look at a hotspot of organized crime. This organizations from the six Western Balkan countries month we focus on Vranje, a city in southern Serbia that to discuss the challenges and opportunities for has recently emerged as a hub for drug trafficking and the strengthening resilience to organized crime and smuggling of migrants. corruption in the region. In this issue, we report on some of the highlights of this discussion. More findings Over the past few years, Sweden has witnessed an increase will be published in a report titled ‘Stronger together: in gang-related violence. We examine Sweden’s Balkan Bolstering resilience among civil society in the Western connection, namely the smuggling of guns and grenades. Balkans’, which will be published in early February 2021. Albania and Kosovo have significantly reduced gambling In our monthly profile of civil society organizations dealing in their countries in the past two years, not least due to with crime-related issues, we talk with the director of concerns about its links to organized crime and money Neostart, Darjan Vulevic, about the work of his non- laundering. But North Macedonia is taking a different governmental organization in helping former prisoners approach, as witnessed by a doubling in the number reintegrate into Serbian society. of gambling establishments since 2019. We look at the potential risks associated with this policy. We are always interested in ideas for contributions to the Risk Bulletin and offer authors an honorarium. In addition to highlighting risks, resilience is a regular If you have a proposal for a story or would like to feature of our Risk Bulletin, particularly the work being provide feedback, please contact Kristina.Amerhauser@ done by civil society organizations in the Western Balkans globalinitiative.net. 1. Vranje, an emerging criminal hotspot. Since 2019, one place keeps popping up in media and police shifted from Veliki Trnovac to Vranje. The latter is reports about trafficking drugs and smuggling migrants: said to be a hub for cannabis and cocaine smuggling Vranje, which has all the characteristics of an organized- along well-established routes from neighbouring crime hotspot. This city, with a population of around North Macedonia and Kosovo. In addition, at least one 80 000 people according to official data,1 is located in group from Vranje may have links to the Montenegrin southern Serbia close to Kosovo and Bulgaria along the E75 Škaljari clan, a major player in the cocaine trade. highway, which is a well-known trafficking route from North Ties also seem to extend to Romania and possibly as Macedonia to central Europe through Serbia and Romania. far away as Latin America. The city is also economically vulnerable: the average salary Indeed, a high-profile case from 2019 put Vranje on is about €390,2 much lower than the Serbian average of the map. In March 2019, Romanian police discovered a €513. 3 Vranje’s at-risk-of-poverty rate of 31% is well above package with 1 kilogram of cocaine that had allegedly the national rate of 24% in 2018.4 There are also elements fallen out of a van. Following up on this lead, they seized of weak governance: Vranje has been slow to implement an around 1.8 tonnes of cocaine with a purity level of 90%. anti-corruption plan5 and sessions of the town council are It was wrapped in balloons in a capsized boat on the closed to the media.6 Black Sea coast around the Danube Delta.8 The estimated value of the seized cocaine was €600 million,9 but it could Vranje is only 20 kilometres from the village of Veliki have had a street value of two to three times that after Trnovac, which until recently was such a notorious place being cut and mixed with other substances. To put that for drug trafficking that it was even difficult for police to in perspective, the entire annual budget of the city of enter.7 However, most criminal activity seems to have Belgrade in 2019 was just over €1 billion. RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 4 • JAN 2021–FEB 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 2 to Hungary Porțile de Fier II A1 Craiova E75 Iron Gates II border crossing N ROMANIA 0 50 km Bor Vidin to the Jagodina Black Sea M o r Zaječar a v Danu a be Kraljevo Kruševac Waypoints m Knjaževac 35 B Traﬃcking routes SERBIA Niš a lk a Svrljig n M o Prokuplje u Novi A4 nt Vratsa ai Pazar Pirot ns Leskovac BULGARIA MONTENEGRO Vlastonice Mitrovica A1 E75 Veliki Soﬁa Pejё Trnovac KOSOVO Bujanovac nized Ferizaj Presevo Prizren Kumanovo Skopje 4 A2 REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA NORTH MACEDONIA FIGURE 1 Vranje, in southern Serbia, is an emerging hotspot for organized crime. Romanian police arrested two people, both truck drivers from Vranje but apparently lives in Moscow,14 has been from Vranje. The investigation showed that the cocaine linked to drug trafficking in the past.15 There are rumours originated in Brazil, entered Romania by sea via Turkey that he was involved in the theft of a major shipment and was supposed to reach Serbia by road,10 where it of cocaine in 2014 in Valencia, Spain, that triggered the would then be distributed to markets in Western Europe, split of an organized crime group in Kotor;16 the resulting primarily Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.11 bloody feud between the Škaljari and Kavač clans has killed almost 50 people since 2015.17 Media reported In July 2020, Romanian prosecutors brought charges that Trajković had shared the cost of the 2019 shipment against 14 people, including Romanians, Spaniards and with Igor Dedović, a leading figure in the Škaljari clan.18 Ukrainians, as well as a notorious Lebanese drug lord Dedović was killed by gunmen in January 2020 at a operating out of Brazil. Some of those arrested were divers restaurant in Athens. with expertise in recovering drugs thrown overboard from ships.12 The intended buyers were allegedly a ‘Balkan Since 2018, police in Vranje have been implicated at least cartel’ from Serbia.13 twice in criminal activity. In 2018, a second criminal from Vranje (not linked to the Škaljari clan) was arrested with 47 Tellingly, only the two truck drivers from Vranje and none kilograms of cannabis. The group he belonged to, which of their Serbian bosses were indicted. Serbian media included police officers,19 was active in trafficking cannabis reported that the two drivers were hired by someone from Kosovo to Subotica in northern Serbia, from where with links to Davor Trajković. Trajković, who is said to be the drugs were smuggled across the border into Hungary. RISK BULLETIN • ISSUE 4 • JAN 2021–FEB 2021 WESTERN BALKANS REGION 3 In July 2019, a police inspector from Vranje was arrested.20 The migrants, mostly young men from Syria, Pakistan Police found 21 kilograms of cannabis in his house.

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