Montenegrins continue to play a role in cocaine trafficking from Peru to Europe.

Since the initial years of the 2000s, Montenegrin criminals have played a role in cocaine trafficking from Peru. Recent operations targeting Montenegrin citizens illustrate ongoing cocaine trafficking from Peru to Europe, involving complex criminal networks and clans primarily comprised of Montenegrins, Serbs and Bosnians, but also Albanians. As coca cultivation expands in Peru, there is a risk that some of these organizations could grow their partnerships with Peruvian and Brazilian criminal groups.

Peru ranks as the world’s second-largest producer of cocaine, following Colombia.¹ In 2022, 95 008 hectares were under coca cultivation in the country, marking an 18% rise from 2021 (80 681 hectares) and a substantial 54% increase from 2020 (61 777 hectares).² This expansion resulted from coca production extending beyond traditional areas along the Ene and Apurímac rivers into border regions such as Loreto, Ucayali and Puno.³ Cultivation of the coca leaf for unrefined consumption is legal in Peru, in line with traditional customs, but its transformation into cocaine is illegal, and government officials estimate that 90% of Peru’s crop now serves illicit purposes.⁴

Balkan criminal networks, made up of criminal groups of Slavic origin that speak the Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian language,⁵ rely on Peru extensively for purchasing cocaine.⁶ These networks of Serbian, Montenegrin, Bosnian and, to a lesser extent, Croatian citizens, excel in moving cocaine from Latin America to Europe, utilizing key ports in Ecuador, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the Adriatic Sea.⁷ Comprising approximately 50 cells,⁸ according to Europol, the networks operate flexibly and recruit easily.⁹ As a result, Peru plays a vital role as a source country for cocaine for Montenegrin drug traffickers, who mainly supply Western Europe, but also Southern Europe.

The Kavač and Škaljari clans are alleged to be the two strongest criminal organizations from Montenegro involved in transnational cocaine trafficking.¹⁰ In December 2022, the Montenegrin prosecution indicted members of the Kavač clan and its leader Radoje Zvicer. According to the indictment, the clan used Peru to purchase cocaine and transport it by sea to Europe for further sale.¹¹ Clan members also allegedly distinguished cocaine from Peru by referring to it in the feminine gender and stating that cocaine from this country is whiter and more expensive than cocaine from other countries.¹² They also allegedly packaged the cocaine in rectangular-shaped packs, weighing about one kilogramme each, referred to as ‘cubes’ in communications.¹³ Many of these packages were wrapped in vacuum-sealed nylon with seals bearing different names indicating their countries of origin, including Peru, according to the indictment.¹⁴

In August 2021, Peruvian authorities seized over 2 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a container of coffee.

Photo: Prosecutor’s Office of Peru via Blic

The Škaljari clan was also suspected of involvement in cocaine trafficking from Peru. In August 2021, for example, Peruvian authorities seized over 2 tonnes of high-purity cocaine valued at US$90 million, which Blic reports is thought to have belonged to the Škaljari clan.¹⁵ The contraband was intended for shipment from Callao to Belgium. The drugs were hidden in an export container among organic coffee, packaged in rectangular parcels with various inscriptions.¹⁶

Darko Šarić, a Montenegrin trafficker who was in 2015 sentenced by a Serbian court to 20 years in prison for smuggling 5.7 tonnes of cocaine across South America and into Europe,¹⁷ was a key early player in making connections in Peru. According to testimony from a former member of the group, Šarić sourced cocaine from crime groups in Peru along with Colombia and Bolivia.¹⁸ Another former member stated that Šarić’s organization was led by Montenegrins and Serbs, and further noted that Croats hold the lowest positions in the hierarchy, dealing largely with transportation.¹⁹

More recently, in October 2023, the Peruvian police conducted a targeted operation against the criminal group Roll Royce, allegedly led by Nikola Berishaj (also known as Baba, a Montenegrin citizen of the Albanian minority).²⁰ He is suspected of working as an intermediary for Albanian drug traffickers.²¹ The operation resulted in the seizure of 114 bricks of cocaine worth over US$10.4 million. Berishaj, apparently disguised as a reverend in an evangelical church, stands accused of conspiring to ship the cocaine through the Peruvian port of Callao, having allegedly already completed at least one drug shipment to Europe with the assistance of Peruvian associates.²²

The case of Goran Gogić, a former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro, is another interesting example. In October 2022, prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment against Gogić charging him with three counts of violating the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, after US authorities intercepted 20 tonnes of cocaine on its way from Colombia to Europe.²³ The trafficking operation was intricate, involving loading cocaine onto commercial cargo ships under the cover of night near coasts and ports, using speedboats and the ship’s equipment, including cranes and nets, according to prosecutors. Cocaine was concealed in specific shipping containers with counterfeit seals, and the operation heavily relied on accessing the crew, along with route, manifest, and real-time positioning data, the prosecutors added. Substantial amounts of cocaine linked to this scheme were also seized at ports in Peru.²⁴

There have also been cases of cocaine smuggled by post from Peru to Montenegro. In August 2017, Peruvian cocaine intended for distribution in Montenegro was seized.²⁵ The smuggling operation involved concealing 66 smaller packages of high-purity cocaine inside legal shipments of wooden coasters.²⁶

Looking ahead, there are risks that Balkan criminal groups will further capitalize as coca cultivation expands in Peru and security deteriorates in other parts of Latin America. As in Colombia and Ecuador in the past, Balkan criminal groups could form alliances with local Peruvian criminal groups which could call upon the services of these sometimes violent Balkan gangs. Well-connected Balkan criminal groups might also act as go-betweens for Peruvian and Brazilian groups, including by using their existing ties with Brazil’s criminal underworld to exploit the spread of coca production in Peru to the Ucayali region, close to the border with Brazil.²⁷ Increased coca cultivation, enhanced port infrastructure²⁸ and greater criminal activity in Peru as a result of increased law enforcement attention in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador are all warning signs that Peru could become a growth market for criminal groups from Montenegro and other parts of the Western Balkans.²⁹

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