A small town in Montenegro has a big reputation for crime as the place of origin for many of the country’s criminals.

In police reports about arrests or crime-related deaths in the Western Balkans, the name of one small town in Montenegro often appears: Cetinje. Although Cetinje is not a hotspot of organized crime, as there is relatively little crime in the city, there is often a criminal connection to someone from Cetinje in news reports, such as the ones about the Pink Panthers,¹ the Montenegrin cocaine clan war² or, more recently, cannabis cultivation.³ Why is this small, former capital of Montenegro criminogenic? Is it a coincidence, or are there certain factors that create vulnerability?

Cetinje, with a population of around 14 000 people, is situated between the capital, Podgorica, and the towns of Budva and Kotor on the Adriatic coast. It is home to a historic monastery, which was at the centre of clashes in early September 2021 when angry crowds protested the inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox church.⁴ Despite its distinguished past, part of the city’s more recent history is linked to a criminal milieu.

After the break-up of Yugoslavia, criminals from Cetinje were engaged in cigarette smuggling from Montenegro to Italy. This brought them into contact with traders in the Apulia region of Italy who were dealing in smuggled, counterfeit or stolen luxury goods like jewellery, sunglasses, footwear, clothes and cosmetics. Based on their good connections with their Italian counterparts, criminals from Cetinje became specialized in robbing boutiques, jewellery and appliance stores in Italy.⁵ Robberies during the 1990s were on-the-job training for members of the famous gang of robbers known as the Pink Panthers, whose founder, Rajko Čaušević, is from Cetinje.⁶

At the beginning of the 21st century, criminals from Cetinje became active in the drug trade, particularly the smuggling of cocaine from Latin America to Western Europe. Men from Cetinje are prominent in the ranks of both the Škaljari and Kavač clans, which have been engaged in a bloody feud over control of the cocaine trade since 2015. For example, the Vukotić brothers, who are considered the leaders of the Škaljari clan, come from Cetinje, and Radoje Zvicer and Slobodan Kašćelan, members of the Kavač clan, also grew up near the city.

The Montenegrin city of Cetinje has a distinguished past, but it is now linked with the country’s criminal underworld.

Photo: Redvetal

Figure 1 Cetinje, lying between Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, and the Adriatic, is home to a number of the country’s criminals.

A number of people from Cetinje have been killed in the bloody feud, while others caught up in the clash of clans have been killed in the city. These include Veselin Vukotić, father of the Vukotić brothers;⁷ Goran Radoman, the first victim of the Škaljari and Kavač clans’ bloody war;⁸ and Cetinje criminals Darko Mijović and Nikola Jovanović.⁹ In 2021, Filip Ivanović, said to be a member of the Škaljari clan and also from Cetinje, was arrested for the murder of Bojan Mirković, an alleged member of the Škaljari clan, in Belgrade.¹⁰

Recent arrests and lawsuits indicate that the pattern of criminality is continuing. Ivan Armuš, also from Cetinje and with close ties to the Kavač clan, was arrested in Colombia in April 2021 for smuggling half a tonne of cocaine to Europe. The investigation shows that he was directly connected to the Colombian group Clan del Golfo.¹¹ Another criminal from Cetinje, Vladan Radoman – one of the Škaljari clan leaders – is also said to be connected to the Italian ‘Ndrangeta group. The Italian judiciary has been monitoring his activities since 2014; in June 2021, they sentenced him to almost 18 years in prison for smuggling over two tonnes of cocaine from South America.¹²

Several factors may help explain the criminogenic nature of Cetinje. One is socio-economic vulnerability: with the disintegration of Yugoslavia, large factories closed and many workers lost their jobs. Young people and the unemployed left the city looking for opportunities in the capital, on the coast or abroad, and many were attracted to jobs in international shipping companies. Some young men went to Belgrade or Western Europe, where they became engaged in the criminal milieu, while others stayed in the area and engaged in the informal economy.

Although the economic situation has improved in recent years, the average salary in Cetinje in 2020 was still below the national average, at €515 per month, while the unemployment rate was at 20%.¹³ Many of the unemployed have college degrees, including in maritime management, and they are vulnerable to becoming engaged in drug trafficking through Adriatic ports.

Another factor contributing to Cetinje’s ties to Montenegro’s criminal landscape could be political. One of the biggest employers in the city is the public sector and, as a result, public servants are dependent on whoever rules the city. For 30 years, Cetinje has been a power base for the Democratic Party of Socialists, led by current Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović. On the one hand, such conditions can create a protection economy for illicit activities, as witnessed in the past with cigarette smuggling. On the other hand, corruption, one-party rule and lack of licit opportunities may act as push factors for migration, including for young men, who get involved in criminal activities.

Experience suggests that networks of crime can be self-replicating. Where young people (usually men) grow up in an environment where their peers are engaged in illicit activity, they either copy their behaviour or join their groups. There is also an element of kinship: people from the same locality have a sense of common identity that may also carry over into criminal allegiances. Such patterns of behaviour are evident in some communities in the Western Balkans and may help to explain the situation in Cetinje.

In July 2021, police discovered the largest marijuana field in Montenegro to date – seven large plantations with nearly 3 700 marijuana stalks up to 2 metres in size in the Cetinje region.¹⁴ The cultivation of cannabis could be the next chapter in the history of crime that has shaped Cetinje’s history over the past three decades.

Notes