Organized crime groups whose members originate from the Western Balkan countries are using a new route to smuggle cocaine from Latin America to Europe – via West African countries.
This was pointed out by researchers from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI) in a report published in September.
Saša Đorđević, co-author of the report, told Radio Free Europe (RSE) that the focus of organized crime groups from the Western Balkans has shifted from direct transportation to the route via West Africa, among other things, due to the favorable geographical location - halfway between Latin America, where cocaine is produced, and markets in Europe, where it is transported.
The report is based on 70 interviews with investigative journalists, police and prosecutors, academics, officials and private sector employees in seaports and airports, actors involved in cocaine trafficking, drug users and health workers in the Western Balkans, Latin America and West Africa.
"From 2019 to 2024, police, primarily in the European Union, focused on seizures of cocaine coming directly from, for example, Ecuador to the Netherlands, rather than going via some transit routes."
Saša Đorđević, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
Djordjevic points out that organized crime groups from the Western Balkans have strengthened their presence in the coastal states of West Africa. These include Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Gambia.
EUROPOL, the European law enforcement agency, also points to information about the use of the route through West Africa.
"The most prominent criminal networks have their representatives (intermediaries, and sometimes even entire cells), deployed in countries of origin in South America or in logistics centers (in West or South Africa)," EUROPOL stated in response to an inquiry from RFE/RL.
They added that a special task force has been formed to respond to the threat posed by organized drug trafficking. The group, they said, brings together countries from the Western Balkans, the European Union and the entire world to target criminal networks.
Organized crime groups from the Western Balkans are listed by international organizations such as EUROPOL and INTERPOL as key players in the smuggling of cocaine from Latin American countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador to markets in countries, primarily Western Europe, such as the Netherlands.
"This influence did not appear overnight and is the result of three decades of development of criminal groups from the Western Balkans, which has positioned them today as very influential players in the global cocaine supply chain."
Saša Đorđević, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
The new cocaine smuggling route, according to Đorđević, poses an additional challenge, because organized crime groups from the Western Balkans also use West African countries as drug storage locations, which later facilitates their distribution and transport.
Corruption enables criminal groups from the Western Balkans to position themselves in these countries, as well as in the cases of Latin American and European countries.
"They do not have the support of all members of the local government. Organized crime, including the one that comes through West Africa, simply cannot function without people who are susceptible to corruption and who work in these key positions, primarily in port security, customs, and the police," explains Đorđević.
The establishment of this route, he adds, was also due to the increased demand for cocaine in Europe, primarily on the Western European market.
This is shown by data on the concentration of cocaine residues in wastewater from large European cities, collected by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).
A report published in June 2025 stated that cocaine residues in municipal wastewater increased in 39 of the 72 cities for which data is available, such as Brussels, Antwerp, but also Zagreb and Maribor in Slovenia during 2023 and 2024.
Cocaine is, after cannabis, the second most commonly used illegal drug in Europe, according to EUDA, and in a period of just three years, the amount of cocaine seized in the European Union has doubled.
All Western Balkan countries cooperate with EUROPOL to combat cocaine smuggling.
Organized crime groups from the Western Balkans are divided, in the Global Initiative report, according to the language they use - into those that speak Slavic languages and those that use Albanian.
A characteristic of organized crime, however, is that it is multinational, and the report states that there is cooperation between different groups, or rather members of those groups from different countries in the Western Balkans.
Đorđević believes that cooperation between police and prosecutors in the region in combating cocaine smuggling is much better if it is done with the mediation of international organizations.
"With the mediation of EUROPOL, cooperation works much better, especially in those cases that are not politically sensitive. However, cooperation is somewhat weaker, if the cases are politically sensitive."
Saša Đorđević, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime
As the biggest challenges in cooperation, he states, among other things, that the focus of investigative authorities is on seizures, not on money flows.
"Secondly, the impact of activities to reduce demand, in terms of prevention, is minimal and there is much less talk about reducing demand in general. There is more talk, and it is always bombastic when a seizure occurs," says Đorđević.
The third challenge, he adds, is that there has been a lot of progress in confiscating assets acquired through crime in the Western Balkan countries.
"And that is, in a way, one of the main tools for preventing and combating organized crime," concludes Đorđević.
Montenegro
Originally from Montenegro, the Kavački and Škaljar clans, according to the report, have operations in Sierra Leone and Senegal.
The Kavak clan's activities are reportedly linked to ports in Brazil and Sierra Leone, with intermediaries overseeing logistics from Freetown.
Radoje Zvicer has been identified as the main actor behind the Kavač clan's operations in West Africa, while the Škalja clan mainly operates through associates from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.
In November 2024, at the request of Austrian authorities, EUROPOL updated an arrest warrant for Zvicer, who is believed to lead the Kavački Clan, a criminal organization specializing in cocaine smuggling.
In January 2025, the Special State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro opened an investigation against Radoje Zvicer and 12 other members of the Kavača criminal clan, whom it suspects of the murder of Risto Mijanović in November 2020.
Zviceru has been missing since 2020, when he was seriously wounded in Kiev. European documents indicate that he used at least 15 false identities.
On this one link You can view the database of murders carried out since 2012 in Montenegro and Serbia that have the characteristics of mafia-style liquidations: The Black Book (a joint project of KRIK and Radio Free Europe).
By the time of writing, the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro had not responded to RFE/RL's questions about possible knowledge of the participation of Montenegrin citizens in cocaine smuggling from Latin America to Europe via West African countries.
There was also no response from the competent court and prosecutor's office, from which RFE/RL requested data on the number of confirmed indictments and final verdicts for drug trafficking from 2021 to 2025.
Serbia
The activities of Serbian citizens, according to a report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, have been recorded in Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Serbian citizen Miroslav Starčević was identified in the report as the leader of a group that used Sierra Leone as a hub for storing cocaine and packaging it in containers.
The group he leads is linked in the report to the Kavača criminal clan, originating from Montenegro.
The Kavački and Škaljar clans originated in Montenegro. They are two warring criminal clans, in whose conflicts more than 60 people have lost their lives since 2014.
Two proceedings are being conducted against Starčević at the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. In one case, an investigation is underway, while in the other case, the main hearing is underway, the prosecutor's office stated in a response to a request for access to information of public importance.
The Global Initiative report mentions Goran Nešić among the actors originating from Serbia, as one of the first brokers for Serbian and Montenegrin organized crime groups in West Africa.
Goran Nešić was arrested in Brazil in 2011. Seven years later, he was extradited to Serbia, where he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
After Goran Nešić's arrest in Brazil, the business was continued by his son Aleksandar Nešić, according to the report. He was also arrested in Brazil in October 2023.
As stated by the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, a verdict was reached against him pursuant to a plea agreement concluded in November 2019.
By the time of writing, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) had not responded to RFE/RL's questions about whether and what information they have about the participation of Serbian citizens in cocaine smuggling through West Africa, as well as whether the Serbian police are cooperating with the competent institutions of African countries on these cases.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The report states that a group linked to the Skaljar clan, led by a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), uses Gran Canaria (an island in Spain) as a main distribution hub for direct routes from Brazil and West Africa, including Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone.
The report mentions Edin Gačanin, who is said to be originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina but has Dutch citizenship, as a key figure in international drug trafficking.
Available data, according to the Global Initiative report, indicates that Gačanin had operations in several African countries, especially South Africa.
Gačanin, arrested in Dubai in 2023, was convicted in absentia for smuggling large quantities of drugs into Europe from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. He is also on the United States (US) sanctions list, which has designated him as the leader of the "Tito" and "Dino" cartels.
In April 2025, 23 people were arrested in BiH in cooperation with EUROPOL, who are linked to Gačanin. These are senior officials of police agencies and law enforcement institutions suspected of organized crime, money laundering, illicit drug trafficking, abuse of official position or authority, and accepting gifts.
The Global Initiative report also mentions a BiH citizen, a member of the Skaljari crime clan, who allegedly used Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone as a storage location and non-containerized shipments further to the Canary Islands, which served as a distribution center for the resale of narcotics to mainly European buyers.
It added that despite an INTERPOL red notice issued by Belgium, efforts to extradite him "are hampered by his acquisition of Turkish citizenship."
By the time of writing, the Ministry of Interior of Bosnia and Herzegovina had not responded to RFE/RL's questions about whether and what information they had about the participation of BiH citizens in cocaine smuggling through West Africa.
In the period from the beginning of 2021 to September 3, 2025, the Court of BiH issued 37 final verdicts for the criminal offense of Unauthorized Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, according to data provided by the court in response to RFE/RL's questions.
Northern Macedonia
Citizens of North Macedonia are mentioned in the GI report as part of Albanian-speaking criminal groups.
In response to RFE/RL's questions, the Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia stated that their citizens, as members of international organized crime groups, are involved in organizing the procurement and transportation of cocaine from the countries of origin, South America, to Europe.
"The Ministry of Interior and the services for combating illicit drug trafficking have established excellent cooperation with countries from the region and the EU, and this takes place through INTERPOL, EUROPOL, or bilateral contacts," the Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia stated.
According to data provided by the Criminal Court in Skopje upon request by RFE/RL, in the period from 2021 to 2025, 257 final verdicts were issued for the creation or participation in an organized criminal network for drug trafficking.
Of the 257 verdicts, the majority were convictions with prison sentences of three to ten years, 28 verdicts were either acquittals or suspended sentences, while 10 verdicts resulted in a decision to expel foreign citizens from North Macedonia.
Kosovo and Albania
Albanian-speaking criminal groups, according to the GI report, are made up of individuals from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro, along with associates of other nationalities.
"These groups in Ecuador have built a significant transportation hub over the past decade by establishing close cooperation with local gangs and gaining access to ports," the report said.
It added that they have also "taken root" in Brazil since 2019, connecting criminal groups with the route through West Africa. Their activities have been recorded in Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
They cooperate with the Brazilian criminal organization PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), which the report lists as a "key partner" for organized crime groups from the Western Balkans.
The report states that Albanian customs authorities have confirmed that exports from West Africa are not considered high-risk and are subject to significantly less scrutiny than those from Latin America, particularly Ecuador, and law enforcement attention has been focused on a limited Albanian criminal operation in West Africa.
RFE/RL sent questions regarding the involvement of organized crime groups in cocaine smuggling through West Africa to the relevant institutions in Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Gambia. However, no response was received by the time of writing.
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