Numerous independent criminal networks cooperate when it suits them, and no one can say with certainty how many such groups operate across the Balkans because they are not fixed structures, an organized crime expert told the BBC.
Despite persistent political and interstate disputes in the Balkans, cooperation has never stopped in one field — organized crime. Criminal groups are often placed under the same umbrella label, the “Balkan cartel,” which is a convenient description but not a single organization, said Antonio Nicaso, an Italian expert on organized crime.
“We are talking about numerous independent networks that cooperate when it benefits them, especially in the case of large drug shipments, but they are essentially separate organizations,” Nicaso said.
“Criminal groups function like multinational corporations. There are brokers, transport coordinators, financiers and local operatives,” he added in a written response to the BBC Serbian service.
The term “Balkan cartel” returned to headlines following a recent international operation in which 11 people were arrested in Montenegro, including a man authorities described as allegedly “one of its leaders.” Europol, however, avoided calling him a leader, instead referring to him as “a high-value target” within a criminal network.
“Such individuals and their organized criminal activities pose a risk to two or more EU member states,” Europol spokesperson Thomas Kirchberger told the BBC Serbian service.
“He may play a key role in a criminal network, not necessarily as a leader, but perhaps as a logistics coordinator, financier or money launderer,” Kirchberger added.
Under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, a criminal group is defined as three or more people acting over a period of time to commit serious crimes for direct or indirect financial gain.
Members of criminal networks linked to the Western Balkans originate from former Yugoslav republics including Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and are highly active in Latin America, according to Europol.
“There, they exploit opportunities for corruption in major ports and shipping companies and thereby fully control cocaine supply chains,” Kirchberger said.
“Some of these groups specialize in or are heavily involved in extreme violence, professional kidnappings and executions, corruption, money laundering, arms trafficking, explosives and forged documents.”
Political scientist Dušan Stanković wrote in his study “The Little Black Book” that the wars of the 1990s, corruption, sanctions, involvement of state officials in illegal activities and lack of transparency transformed the Balkans into one of the key epicenters of international organized crime.
Power, reach and resilience
Today’s most influential criminal groups operate globally, control key trafficking routes and hubs, and adapt quickly after arrests or losses, relying on trusted networks and often corruption, Nicaso said.
“A group that is well connected, financially powerful and difficult to dismantle is considered major,” said Nicaso, who spent years researching the activities of Italy’s notorious mafia organizations ’Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra.
Key players in the European cocaine trade are members of criminal networks originating from Albanian-speaking areas, which control street-level distribution in many cities and transport shipments from Latin America to ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam, Nicaso said.
“It is widely believed that Albanian criminal networks filled the vacuum left by the so-called Mocro Mafia, the Dutch criminal underworld run by people originating from the Maghreb region in Africa,” he added.
After the fall of communism, Albania — along with former Soviet states — experienced a dramatic rise in organized crime, according to Alessandro Ford, an investigator at InsightCrime.
“Albanian criminal clans smuggled everything,” Ford said, “from heroin and weapons to cigarettes and people.”
Over the past two decades, Albanian groups established ties with drug cartels and trafficking organizations in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, he added.
Šarić, Belivuk and the Balkan clans
Nicaso said it is impossible to determine exactly how many criminal groups operate in the Balkans because they are fluid and constantly evolving.
In Serbia and Montenegro, one of the best-known figures is Darko Šarić, whom Argentine outlet Infobae once dubbed the “Balkan El Chapo,” comparing him to Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Šarić, described by media as one of the Balkans’ biggest drug traffickers, surrendered to Serbian authorities in 2014. Several court proceedings followed, resulting in a final sentence. He denied all charges and is currently serving a 15-year prison term.
Another criminal group led by Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković in Serbia has been accused by prosecutors of seven murders, kidnappings, drug trafficking, rape and illegal weapons possession. Most defendants denied guilt, except for three suspects who admitted crimes in exchange for witness protection status and reduced sentences. The trial is ongoing.
Investigative outlet KRIK described the “America Group” as perhaps the Balkans’ longest-lasting and most powerful criminal clan, smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe for more than two decades.
Meanwhile, the violent conflict between Montenegro’s Škaljari and Kavač clans, named after neighborhoods in the coastal town of Kotor, has lasted for more than a decade and spread across Europe.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, authorities estimate that between five and ten organized crime groups operate, with the Tito and Dino clan most frequently mentioned in media reports.
Its alleged leader, Edin Gačanin Tito, was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison in the Netherlands for smuggling 2.5 tons of cocaine and producing around 400 kilograms of synthetic drugs. He was arrested in Dubai in March 2025 but has not yet been extradited, according to KRIK.
Europol estimates that by 2020, the clan was transporting 50 tons of cocaine annually into Europe from Peru and other South American countries.
Digital crime and institutional weakness
Encrypted communication platforms such as Sky ECC transformed the way criminal groups operate, but investigators have adapted as well. Serbian security services cracked Sky communications and used decrypted messages to arrest members of Belivuk’s clan.
“Investigators can use digital traces, but the most sophisticated networks have shifted to encrypted platforms and coded communication,” Nicaso said.
“Many key decisions are still made offline, and technology has raised the stakes for both sides.”
Even after arrests, networks often remain intact because dismantling financial flows is as important as intercepting drugs — and much more complicated, he added.
“Seizing shipments may stop one operation, but tracing and dismantling illicit capital requires following money through layers of shell companies, offshore accounts, and professional intermediaries designed to conceal its origin,” he said.
“Corruption remains a major obstacle, weakening institutions from within.”
Serbia ranked 41st out of 44 analyzed European countries in the 2025 Global Organized Crime Index. Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked sixth, while Montenegro ranked tenth.
“State actors play a key role in the organized crime landscape, and corruption within state institutions facilitates illegal financial transactions and protects criminal businesses,” the report’s authors said.
“Serbia remains one of the main smuggling hubs in the Western Balkans, and senior government officials have been linked to notorious organized crime figures,” the report added.
“For criminal networks, financial systems are both shield and engine,” Nicaso said.
“They allow profits to be reinvested, laundered and reintegrated into the legal economy, making detection and dismantling far more difficult.”
Less than 1% of illegally acquired assets are confiscated in Europe, he noted.
“The fight continues,” Nicaso concluded, “but victory is still far away.”