In recent years, foreign criminal groups, especially Turkish, Georgian and Russian, have become more and more present in Montenegro, warns the Government's Serious and Organized Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA).
"The connection of these groups with Montenegrin organized criminal groups additionally strengthens criminal activities and expands the territory of influence."
In the Montenegrin Government document, there are no details about the actions of specifically Russian and Georgian criminals, but that is why they are mentioned in Turkish in "businesses" from heroin to human trafficking to money laundering.
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It is not known whether the presidents of Montenegro and Turkey, Jakov Milatović and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who are meeting in Ankara on Monday, December 2, will discuss this.
Radio Free Europe's (RSE) question was not answered by the Montenegrin president's office.
In response to the question of whether they are concerned about SOCTA's findings and how the Turkish authorities can contribute to reducing the presence of clans from their country in Montenegro, the Turkish Embassy referred an RSE journalist to the Government of Montenegro.
And what was the government's response?
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of security, Aleksa Bečić, told RSE that the body he manages, the Bureau for Coordination of the Intelligence and Security Sector, "recognized the danger of the activities of these criminal structures."
Becic said that this year 13 Turkish citizens were prosecuted for acts of economic crime, forgery of documents and money, and people smuggling.
"The authorities made decisions on the basis of which certain persons from these structures no longer reside in Montenegro, which resulted in the passiveization of their activities. We also managed to locate and extradite several Turkish citizens who were hiding in Montenegro."
Namely, five Turkish citizens were arrested on international warrants, four of whom were extradited to Turkey. Among them is Binali Čamgoz, who was found to be a threat to national security in Montenegro.
Bečić said that the institutions will continue to work on identifying members of foreign criminal groups operating in Montenegro:
"In order to prevent the implementation of criminal activities on our territory and protect national interests by preventing the stay of these persons in Montenegro."
Rozaje is a center for the storage and distribution of heroin
Turkish criminal groups are, according to the document prepared on the basis of information from the Montenegrin security and intelligence services, involved in dealings with heroin.
Heroin on the market of the Western Balkans mainly comes from Afghanistan and Turkey.
Part of the heroin that arrives in Montenegro is destined for the domestic market, while the rest, usually a larger part, is prepared for further smuggling to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and further to European countries.
The price of a kilogram of heroin in the countries of the region is twice as high as in Turkey, and it is further doubled when sold in the European Union.
The SOCTA document identified Rožaje, a Montenegrin town in the north near the border with Serbia and Kosovo, as a key place for the storage and distribution of heroin.
This type of drug is mainly in the "job description" of criminal groups from the north, and recently also those from the central part.
"...which established direct contacts with criminal groups in Turkey, from where heroin is smuggled directly to Podgorica," the document says.
Money laundering through companies in Montenegro
The document further states that citizens of Eastern European countries and Turkey are linked to money laundering through related companies registered in Montenegro, in which they are owners or directors.
These companies, it is added, mainly operate in the fields of consulting, financial business and tax management, construction and sale of real estate and trade in motor vehicles.
More than 18.400 foreign-owned companies are registered in Montenegro, according to the latest data from the MONSTAT Statistics Authority.
The largest percentage - 27,2 percent or 5.002 - is made up of companies of Turkish citizens.
That is about 1.200 more companies than a year earlier.
In 2016, their percentage was only 3,1 percent. That year, there were only four branches or representative offices of companies registered in Turkey in Montenegro.
Their number rose to 2023 in 83.
Abuse of the Montenegrin system for the path to the EU
The problem of illegal migration, i.e. people smuggling, is connected with the opening of companies.
This is what Turkish smuggling networks deal with.
Most often, the process involves the establishment of a company in Montenegro, in which the founders are migrants from Turkey. Those with a certificate of registered company get the opportunity to register temporary residence in Montenegro.
With the provided documents - registration of residence and proof of company ownership, Turkish migrants then apply for transit visas at EU member embassies.
If they get them, they travel to those countries.
For years, the European Commission has been warning Montenegro that it must fully harmonize its visa policy with the EU, which means that it must reintroduce visas for citizens of, as they stated, Turkey and Russia.
One of the ways of people smuggling is by sea route from Turkey or Montenegro to Italy and Croatia, from where the transport is carried out by land to other EU countries.
Small boats are used for this purpose.
The phenomenon of migrants working on Montenegrin construction sites, mostly on the coast, for a certain period of time has also been registered. After that, they are illegally transported to one of the EU countries with appropriate monetary compensation, according to SOCTA.
"Mostly (that tariff) ranges from 2.000 to 6.000 euros per person."
Namely, cases of human trafficking, whose victims were Turkish citizens, were also registered in Montenegro in recent years.
They were most often employed at construction sites.
Turkish criminal groups are also involved in cigarette smuggling, mainly through the Port of Durrës in Albania.
After arriving in Albania, one branch of the smuggling routes goes through Montenegro, the so-called transit to "third countries" (Serbia, Kosovo...), while a part of those cigarettes remain illegally in Montenegro.
Montenegro has a decades-long problem with cigarette smuggling.
Namely, more than 20 percent of illegal cigarettes that were seized last year at the borders of the European Union came from Montenegro, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) determined.
A series of arrests
Director of the Montenegrin Police, Zoran Brđanin, met with the Turkish attaché for internal affairs, Emre Celik, on November 1.
The topic of the meeting was the strengthening of cooperation in the joint fight against organized criminal groups, as well as the exchange of information in the field of forged documents.
No further details about these issues have been released.
In the same month, the police arrested at least six Turkish nationals.
Two on suspicion of having damaged the Montenegrin budget by 366.000 euros through their company, and two for counterfeiting money, while two people were arrested on international warrants from Turkey.
Earlier, during September and October, at least ten Turkish citizens were arrested.
Some of them were claimed by Turkey for serving long prison sentences.
There were about 8.500 Turkish citizens in Montenegro last year.
This year, Montenegro and Turkey are celebrating 145 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
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