Organized crime groups from the Western Balkans have established a strong foothold in South America over the past two decades as they seek to acquire coca-based drugs for distribution throughout Europe and beyond, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

These groups have transitioned from minor European players to major international criminal entities within the global drug trade, building lasting partnerships on both ends of the lucrative supply chain, the document states.

Their ascendancy is attributed to two key factors: a historic surge in cocaine production in South America and the insatiable demand for the drug in Europe.

European monitoring of drug trends by GI-TOC indicates that, following unprecedented highs in cocaine availability in 2023, the situation remains stable overall, despite a decline in seizures early in 2024. Reports have pointed to record drug seizures in major EU ports, and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction noted another annual increase in cocaine levels detected in wastewater, continuing a rising trend that began in 2016.

The report highlights the tactical savvy of these groups, which have utilized smuggling expertise and paramilitary training developed during the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s.

Through long-term planning, they have gained respect from established criminal organizations such as the Italian mafia while maintaining agility to capitalize on market opportunities, largely without provoking significant retaliatory pressures from rival factions.

Notable indicators of the Balkan groups' influence are the repeated seizures of cocaine shipments they have sourced from Southeast European ports, including countries in the Western Balkans and beyond.

Since 2012, authorities have confiscated over 3.7 tons of cocaine in Western Balkan nations, primarily Albania and Montenegro, with major ports like Durrës and Bar identified as prominent trafficking hubs.

The peak year for cocaine seizures in the region was 2021, when approximately 2.4 tons were intercepted in Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania.

Of this total, 1.2 tons were seized in Bar, 414 kilograms in Kosovo, and 725 kilograms in Durrës. Beyond the ports in the Western Balkans, these criminal organizations also rely on various shipping routes in Southeast Europe.

Among the prominent trafficking groups identified are the Klan Amerika, established in the 1970s in the U.S. by Serbian nationals, which became notable for its collaborations with Irish-American crime families and Italian mafia groups such as the Gambino family.

After the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, key figures returned to Serbia and reportedly, with support from political and intelligence agencies, forged robust criminal ties in South America in subsequent years.

Another significant entity is the group led by Darko Šarić, a Montenegrin-Serbian national once known as a key cocaine kingpin in the Balkans.

Emerging from humble criminal beginnings, he became prominent in the criminal milieu by 2005 and was capable of trafficking tons of cocaine from South America to Europe.

The Kotor Clan, founded in Kotor on the Montenegrin coast in 2010, quickly ventured into international cocaine trafficking with a focus on transporting cocaine from South America to Balkan ports and key locations in Western Europe.

In 2014, under the leadership of Jovan Vukotić, the clan split into two factions, known as Škaljari and Kavač, largely due to failures in a drug deal in Spain.

The violent rivalry between the two factions has resulted in over 60 killings across multiple European countries since 2015.

As of now, Igor Vukotić, brother of the faction leader, is believed to be the current head of the Škaljari group, living freely after escaping from a prison in Brazil.

Radoje Zvicer, the alleged leader of the Kavač faction, remains at large, with an international warrant issued for his arrest.

Data on arrests of Balkan criminals in Latin America remain sparse and inconsistent.

Colombian reports indicate that only nine individuals of Balkan descent, all Albanian nationals, have been arrested for drug trafficking, which excludes other arrests involving individuals from the region, like Montenegrin Ivan Armuš, apprehended in 2021.

Tracking arrest data in Ecuador has proven challenging as such incidents are categorized in national databases not by nationality but simply as European arrests, which hampers detailed investigation efforts.

Similarly, individuals from the Balkans who are killed or incarcerated in Mexico are broadly classified as merely "Europeans." In Peru, authorities have reported 11 convictions of individuals from Serbia, two from North Macedonia, two from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and two from Montenegro over the past decade.

However, this does not account for individuals currently in custody pending legal proceedings, which can span two to five years.

The lack of solid databases concerning individuals from the Balkans arrested and incarcerated for drug trafficking in South American countries impairs a clearer understanding of the threats emerging from this region.

Cocaine is purchased from producers in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia at prices between $1,500 and $4,000 per kilogram.

Transport and storage costs nearly double initial expenses.

However, as wholesalers in the European cocaine market, these groups can sell a kilogram of cocaine for between €27,000 and €55,000.

In countries like Australia, where Balkan groups have recently begun operations, a kilogram can fetch over €100,000, leading to astronomical profit margins when avoiding seizures.

The ability of these groups to annually deliver tens of tons of cocaine from South America results in profits reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.

Over nearly a decade, organized crime groups in the Western Balkans relied on applications previously thought to be secure for coordinating their criminal activities, particularly in the international cocaine trade.

These organizations commonly used platforms like Sky ECC and EncroChat.

However, law enforcement infiltration into these platforms during the 2019-2021 period yielded valuable insights into the operational activities of these trafficking networks and their connections to influential individuals within legitimate institutions.

Separately, the FBI established ANOM, its own encrypted device company, which was secretly sold to unaware organized criminals worldwide.

This resulted in further troves of intelligence that could be applied to ongoing investigations.