Criminal groups from the Balkans are spreading their influence in Africa

Criminal groups from the Western Balkans, which are among the largest cocaine traffickers in Europe, are consolidating their positions in West Africa, a sign of the region's growing importance on the smuggling route from Latin America to the European Union (EU), a report says.

Growing demand for cocaine in Europe, combined with stronger law enforcement along direct routes from Latin America and a significant expansion of seaports in West Africa, has for several years encouraged smugglers to intensify the trade through Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Reuters writes.

However, the influence of Albanian- and Slavic-speaking criminal networks in the region has so far been poorly understood, according to the British agency.

Researchers from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) said in a report published yesterday that the global importance of these groups has increased significantly and that they are among the largest criminal networks in the European cocaine trade.

These groups have exploited alliances in the region with Dutch criminal groups and, in particular, the Brazilian PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), to strengthen their influence in the supply chain.

"This alliance, between groups from the Western Balkans and the PCC, is probably now the most important alliance for bringing cocaine into Europe," said Saša Đorđević, one of the co-authors and a senior analyst at GI-TOC.

The report, which was partly sponsored by the UK government, says greater cooperation between law enforcement, port authorities and other actors is needed between countries from different continents to crack down on drug routes.

It also calls for greater data collection and more precise targeting of trade intermediaries.

"These groups are among the most sophisticated organized crime groups in the world - they are not minor players," said Lucia Berd Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, director of the GI-TOC Observatory on Illicit Economies in West Africa.

"These major global players are linked to violence in Europe, and as we see more of these very sophisticated, very violent organized crime networks piling up in West Africa, that's a threat from a stability and violence standpoint," she added.