For years, the Montenegrin coast has been quietly occupied by moneylenders linked to organized crime, who lend money "in hand" and turn debts into lifelong nooses. With monthly interest rates exceeding 20 percent, apartments, houses and land pass into the hands of the Skaljarski, Kavački and other clans, while behind closed doors or in the open, ruined families remain.
According to information from the security sector, this illegal business is predominantly carried out by members of organized crime groups - the Škaljari and Kavački clans, their cells in almost all coastal towns, as well as local organized groups on the coast, but also individuals...
The newspaper's interlocutors explain that the amounts given at interest vary from a few hundred euros for short-term needs, to tens and hundreds of thousands of euros, most often with collateral in the form of real estate or the debtor's property.
Loan agreements, which are in some cases formally concluded, often serve as a cover to conceal the real nature of the relationship - usury. According to intelligence data, the goal of such arrangements is often not to return the money, but to take over apartments, houses, land or business premises.
"The debt is most often compounded by the principle of interest on interest, making debt relief completely impossible, which leads to the victim's complete dependence," explain sources from the security sector to "Vijesti".
The consequences of usury are multiple - victims suffer pressure for years, lose property, are exposed to violence, threats, and dozens of suicides are linked to debt bondage.
Therefore, sources from the security sector explain to "Vijesti", usury represents a very significant security risk, because it is extremely conducive to the emergence of conflict situations that generate various forms of criminal acts in the domain of blood feuds.
"Greenwashing in Montenegro is deeply rooted in organized crime, and the victims are usually people in a difficult financial situation who cannot get a loan from banks," multiple sources said.
According to the same information, the organizers of loan sharking are most often old acquaintances of the police, with thick files connected to drug smuggling. Recently, however, it has been noted that more and more younger people are entering this criminal business, which is punishable by law...
Data from those who keep an eye on loan sharks, trying to deal with them, show that a serious problem in prosecuting loan sharks is the victim's fear, the lack of material evidence, but also the fact that even when victims report, under pressure or threats during the court proceedings, they change their statements and "explain" that the loan shark "just did them a favor"...
Crime-fighting operatives have identified fictitious notarial contracts as one of the main problems.
"Instead of a loan agreement, the victim signs a contract for the sale of an apartment or land, which allows the usurer to transfer the property into his hands. In most cases, they sign that they borrowed twice as much as they actually did, which prevents them from proving in court that the other half of the amount is actually disproportionate interest," the security sector told "Vijesti".
Research by "Vijesti" shows that debt bondage does not only happen to the "irresponsible". Anyone can fall into it - both the calm and the hardworking, both the hardworking and the responsible, both the strong and the weak. The loan sharks are just waiting for a moment of weakness.
This is confirmed by the survey results - some citizens took on debt out of necessity, when institutional assistance was unavailable or too slow, while a significant number went into debt to maintain a lifestyle beyond their realistic means or to cover gambling losses, decisions that today, in a conversation with a journalist, they recognize as serious personal mistakes.
In Boka, the people of Škaljak, Kavča and others were interested in interest.
To show that the authorities are keeping an eye on loan sharks, they also provide information with a very detailed description of the illegal activities of loan sharks throughout Montenegro. The list includes several hundred names...
According to this data, in the area of the Herceg Novi municipality, the long-time leaders of the criminal loan sharking business are close associates of one of the leaders of the Kavač clan. Slobodan Kascelan, members of an organized crime group Roganović.
"Vijesti"'s interlocutors remind us that part of that criminal gang was arrested in Novi in 2017, in the "Mimoza" operation - precisely for loan sharking. The now deceased was handcuffed at that time. Scepan Roganovic, Goran Pantovic i To Ilija Aleksić.
In Roganović's "team" that lends money at interest are: Jabučanin from Bijela, Novljani Aleksić, Gazivoda, Bulatovic, Zmukic i Nišavić, a former police officer Roganović, from Podgorica Mrakovic, but also numerous other security-interested persons from the area and the municipalities of Nikšić, Budva and beyond...
Members of this organized crime group share the field for usury with their rivals - the cell of the Skaljar clan, or OKG Meljinari, explained to "Vijesti". Among this organized crime group, the following stand out in illegal lending of money at interest: Nikolic i Milovic, but also a long-time fugitive Krsto Vujić, Žugić and others. In that city, according to the interlocutors of "Vijesti", there are also two usurers Marković, Mandic, two more Roganović, two Spaić, Samardžić, Gardašević and two Karabasila.
The same job, according to information from the security sector, is also being done by the brothers. Bigovic andfrom Baošić.
"In several police operations, investigators seized hundreds of loan agreements and real estate documentation that had fallen into the hands of the OKG. Within the Kavačka OKG, the area of usury was dominated for decades by one of its long-time leaders, Slobodan Kašćelan... In addition to Kašćelan, usury activities were also organized by other leaders of the Kavačka group, Radoje Switzerland i Ljubo Milović", through their associates from Kotor and beyond," Vijesti was told.
The interlocutors explain that Kašćelan has gained enormous wealth through this illegal business, the value of which is estimated at tens of millions of euros...
from Kotor Maric who has been outside Montenegro for years and is from Novalja Baković who also lives abroad, are marked in operational data as loan sharks...
In the Tivat municipality, operatives note, loan sharking has been going on for a long time. Danilo Đurović and members of his organized crime group - Raicevic, Vujovic, Bogdanović, Đurović.
"Vijesti" sources explain that in that city, associates of the Kavač clan - the brothers - also lend money at interest. Jurisevic and brothers Radonjic, and the same illegal business is also done by the skaljarci Stanisic.
In addition to them, the authorities are monitoring two people for usury. Marić, brothers Vojinovic, two more Radonjic, on one Đurović, Stanišić, Ivanovic, Ercegović, Ljubatović, Bergama, brothers To announce, brothers T. i P. Francescovich and brothers Bjelanović, but also on Atelier, Vučković, Rexhepaja, Risančić, Bojanić, Rikalo, Kankaraš, Pejović, Milenković i Vuksanović.
Among them, according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", is a professor.
In Budva, loan sharking is a massive phenomenon
Apart from the Bay of Kotor, loan sharking in the Budva area has the character of a mass phenomenon, and members of the local cell of the Skaljar clan, the "Budvanska" organized crime group, are involved in this illegal business, "Vijesti" was told by several sources.
"Who lend large sums of money with interest, then sharing the joint profits from this criminal activity. The most prominent members of this clan, who are engaged in usury, are Boretta, Ljubisa, Slovinić, Chopping, Kazan'negro, Banovic"...
In addition, sources from "Vijesti" claim that a member of the Budva cell of the Kavač clan is also involved in loan sharking in that city. Rafailovic, as well as numerous security-interested individuals - Bozovic, brothers Perović, Samardžić, Mitrović, Miljanić, Radulović, Drašković, Kalezić, Zejak, Kordić, Dapčević, Lopicić, Šoć, Sekulić, Ivančević, Čuzović, Krsmanović, Rutović...
"Two Bijelo Polje residents living in Budva have been engaged in extortion and forced debt collection for a long time - Bulatovići, then Lainović and others. Also, Pljevljak Knezevic, residing in Budva, who is existentially tied to Belgrade. He lent money at usurious interest rates to certain significant Belgrade investors, and he was often involved in these deals with high-ranking members of criminal structures from Serbia," sources explain to "Vijesti".
In Bar, women are among the moneylenders
Members of the deceased's clan Luka Đurović in Bar are among the main leaders of this criminal business, and operational data shows that precisely because of interest, they took a house on Ada Bojana and other real estate from a Podgorica businessman, and at one time they even tried to steal his company. Operational data from security services shows that in recent years "the business of granting and collecting loans has been managed by the brother of the late Luka Đurović, "Jovo Djurovic".
They also state that other leaders of the Bar criminal group also have a very significant participation in this criminal business - Dragan Pechurica i Vukašin Lekić, as well as their close associate Borovic.
"Money taken from Jovo Đurović from earlier fertilized and OKG member Igor Krstović, Bojan Ajkovic and others,” security sector data shows.
According to operational data, the criminal group of the deceased has been involved in the same illegal business for a long time. Armin Musa Osmanagić.
"Among them is Nikola Dedaj, and the data indicate that all of the late Osmanagić's previous jobs, including granting and collecting loans with usurious interest, were taken over by his brother. Adnan OsmanagićThis business in the Bar area is also carried out by people with long criminal records, who have previously focused on loan sharking - the brothers Ivanovic, then Gardašević, Sekulovići, Papan, Pupović, Orlandić, Đuranović, two Škerović, but also associates of the Bar organized crime group Đonović, Peročević, Miranović, Šturanović... In recent years, security-sensitive individuals have also entered this illegal business. Lukač, Lukolic, Bujici, Đuranović, Nikitović, Lalošević, Jovićevići, Nikolić, Čobić, Marljukić, Ražnatović, Dukić, Vučetić, Đurović, Radović, Božović, Boljević, Vuković and police officer Badnjar", explained to "News".
Operatives in that port city also registered two female individuals who, according to their information, are involved in loan sharking - Nikolic i Andjelic.
Kelmendi clan and Osmani clan
There is no shortage of usury in Ulcinj, according to data from operatives, who registered that in the southernmost Montenegrin city, some members of an organized criminal group are lending money to citizens at interest. Nasser Keljmendi, as well as some members of the Osmani clan - Ismet Osmani called Steal.
"In addition to them, some persons of security interest are also, according to operational data, involved in loan sharking - Mirovic, Selmanović, Hadjibeti, Cukovic, Molabećirović, Vukcevic, Bećiragić, Hasanaga, Hasanagić and brothers P. and N. Makovic", multiple sources said.
Whoever lends money or other consumable items and thereby contracts a disproportionate material benefit shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years and a fine, reads the description of the criminal offense of "usury" in the Criminal Code (CC) of Montenegro.
If the usurer "takes advantage of the poor financial situation, difficult circumstances, necessity, frivolity or insufficient ability to reason of the injured party", he will be punished with imprisonment from three months to three years and a fine.
The Criminal Code stipulates that a loan shark can be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine if serious consequences have occurred for the injured party or the perpetrator has obtained material gain in an amount exceeding three thousand euros.
The dice that destroys families
Personally, I believe that families are falling apart, and the problem is almost never talked about. Gambling is all around us - bookmakers, roulettes and casinos at every turn, cities designed to encourage vice, not prevent it. Everything is subordinated to gambling, in an environment that is grotesque and sick, and that mercilessly swallows those who have no support, who are not emotionally strong or who are weak at some point in their lives. For such people, it is the path to ruin.
This was told to "Vijesti" by a girl from the coast, testifying that such an environment also dragged her thirty-year-old cousin to the bottom.
He explains that by gambling and borrowing from loan sharks, he got two families into serious trouble. The consequences of that collapse have been felt by the entire family for years, torn apart by debt, fear, and hopelessness.
Several members of that coastal family answered a questionnaire for "Vijesti", while the journalist also conducted direct interviews with some of them. Their testimonies reveal how the vice of one man, in a system that tacitly encourages it, can destroy entire families.
Although he promised his family and the journalist that he would come forward to talk about the problem he had caused, the thirty-year-old had not done so until last night.
NOTE: The original version of the text contained the complete confession of a girl from the coast, which has been removed.
In tomorrow's issue, read how the relevant institutions "protected" a Podgorica businessman by siding with the loan shark, but also who the leading loan sharks in the capital are.
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