Nine Montenegrin sailors are on the transoceanic ship on which cocaine was loaded in the Peruvian port of Kaljao, on the order of the Sarajevo criminal Edin Gačanin, known as Tito. Operational data show that at least four of them are soldiers of Gačanin's "Tito and Dino" drug cartel.
This is what an interlocutor from the foreign security service told Vijesti, adding that in the last three years, that cartel has sent dozens of tons of cocaine from Peru to Europe.
Yesterday, the news published a part of the video taken by federal agents in that port, who, with the help of several security services, managed to video document that link in the international smuggling of cocaine.
The footage was taken during a months-long investigation, and the agents were able to determine how cocaine is brought onto large ocean-going ships - with the help of fishing trawlers, to which the drugs are brought by smaller boats.
It is forbidden to download the recording without the consent of "Vijesti
The newspaper's source explained that a fishing trawler comes from the sea to the harbor water area during the night, and docks about a hundred meters from the container terminal. From the morning, small fishing boats approach it from the shore, officially with empty plastic barrels, which they need to fill with fish for the local markets. It was found, however, that the barrels were not empty, but filled with cocaine. Soldiers of drug clans, deployed on a fishing trawler, lift barrels from small boats with an electric winch, then empty them below deck and fill them with fish and return them to the small fishing boats...
The interlocutor from the foreign security service explained that the agents discovered two models of transferring cocaine to overseas container carriers.
"After emptying the barrels in the lower deck of the fishing trawler, that vessel would set sail for the open sea, where they would wait for the ship leaving the port of Kaljao to stop next to them at pre-arranged coordinates. A well-coordinated team uses a ship's crane to lift jumbo bags containing half a ton or a ton of cocaine, and sometimes more, from the trawler in a minute," said the interviewee of the newspaper.
The same source explains that the soldiers of Gačanin's cartel also had mercenaries who would load cocaine while the ship was tied up at the APM terminal in the port of Kaljao.
"In that case, during the night, the fishing trawler would slowly start to set sail, and then slowly approach the left side of the container ship that is tied up at the APM terminal, about a hundred meters away from the fishing group. Ship's crane already ready - cable with hook, go down to the sea, the trawler is held from 30 seconds to a minute, as long as they need to hook the jumbo bag to the hook of the ship's crane. The fishing trawler continues to leave the harbor water area, while the ship's crane lifts the jumbo bag filled with cocaine onto the ship's main deck within a minute, from where the drug goes to predetermined places or containers that are already on the ship," the interviewee told Vijesti.
Who is Tito?
Born in Sarajevo with Dutch citizenship - forty-two-year-old Edin Gačanin Tito is one of the biggest drug lords from the Balkans.
According to intelligence data, his cartel, which he managed from the Netherlands, controlled as much as a third of cocaine imports into Europe.
An interlocutor from a foreign security service told Vijesti yesterday that the "Tito and Dino" cartel is responsible for sending dozens of tons of cocaine to Europe in the last three years alone.
"They mainly used Peruvian ports, such as the port of Callao, from which about 150 tons of cocaine were sent in the last three years. The largest part of that drug was seized in the actions. "However, the 'Tito and Dino' cartel is not responsible for every shipment, but members of Montenegrin clans, as well as other drug groups with which Gačanin closely cooperated, such as the one from Ireland led by Danijel Kinahan, sent drugs from that position," he said. same source.
He explained that the services recorded Gačanin's visits to Peru a decade and a half ago, after which he sent his associates to that South American country.
"Some of them were arrested, while others were detected. These are mostly cartel members in charge of loading cocaine onto ships and recruiting seafarers or loading those who have already been recruited onto overseas ships that regularly sail to South American countries. The largest part of the intelligence data has been delivered to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we expect them to take the job seriously", said the interlocutor of Vijesti from the foreign security service.
According to Europol data, Gačanin's clan was sending as many as 2020 tons of cocaine to Europe a year by 50 - from Peru and other South American countries.
In November 2022, in the international operation "Desert Light", 43 of Gačanin's associates were arrested in Europe, and he and five others were detained in Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates authorities, however, soon released him from custody and refused to hand him over to the Dutch authorities, who issued a warrant for him.
A year later, Gačanin made an agreement with the Dutch prosecutor's office, on the basis of which he was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of one million euros...
Another half a ton of cocaine was seized
Half a ton of cocaine was seized yesterday in the open sea, northwest of the Canary Islands, in an operation by the French authorities during which six suspects were arrested.
The local police, customs officers and tax inspectors in a joint operation seized a small fishing boat that was heading for Europe with half a ton of cocaine.
According to the knowledge of Vijesta, the action began after the aviation units spotted a fishing boat with a characteristic trajectory more than 300 nautical miles northwest of the Canary Islands. Then the policemen, customs officers and tax inspectors boarded the patrol boats and intercepted the fishing vessel.
"There were six people on the fishing boat, all of Brazilian nationality, who originally claimed to be fishing in the area. However, their behavior, the condition of the fishing equipment and the significant lack of security and documentation reinforced the initial suspicions of the agents, who among the large amount of nets and equipment discovered several bags which turned out to be jumbo bags commonly used to transport narcotics," said is to the News.
According to the same information, the cocaine was supposed to be handed over to other drug soldiers, who would arrive for the drugs in speedboats after the fishing boat approached the European coast.
Bonus video: