Balkan criminal networks are gaining ground in Australia’s drug market.

Australia is one of the top consumer markets for illicit drugs globally,¹ making it a prime target for organized crime. In 2023/24, organized crime cost the country up to AU$82.3 billion, with drug-related activities accounting for nearly AU$19 billion.² Australia saw one of the sharpest increases in cocaine trafficking scores in the Global Organized Crime Index between 2021 and 2023.³ The influence of foreign criminal actors also increased during the same period.⁴ Authorities have estimated that at least 70% of organized crime threats in Australia are linked to foreign criminal networks.⁵

High demand, isolated geography and high street prices make Australia particularly profitable for international drug traffickers. Therefore, it is no surprise that Balkan criminal networks, which are among the key players in the global cocaine trade,⁶ have a presence in the country, although the nuances of their role requires more investigation.

Balkan networks — consisting of Albanian-speaking members mainly from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, and Slavic-speaking groups primarily led by Serbs and Montenegrins — excel at drug trafficking to Europe.⁷ Both of these categories are active in Australia.

Montenegrin sailors

In May 2023, Australian authorities intercepted 849.5 kilograms of cocaine offshore.⁸ Two Montenegrin crew members — the captain and the chief engineer — had planned to dump the drugs into the sea near Fremantle, ahead of collection by another ship. When the transfer failed, the captain flooded the ballast tank to hide the drugs and ordered the crew to falsify the logbook.⁹

A year earlier, in May 2022, Australian authorities disrupted a trafficking scheme involving 320 kilograms of cocaine.¹⁰ A Montenegrin ship captain allegedly loaded the cocaine onto a bulk carrier at an international port and dropped the packages into the sea near Port Hedland, also in Western Australia. Two men — a German and an Australian — retrieved the drugs using a small boat. All three were arrested and charged.¹¹ Both cases demonstrate how senior crew members bypass cargo controls that are meant to regulate international shipping.

In May 2023, a Montenegrin ship captain reportedly tried to hide cocaine destined for Australia by filling the ballast tank with water.

Photo: Screenshot from an Australian Federal Police video via Hightail. View the video here.

In September 2024, an international police operation codenamed Kraken penetrated Ghost, an encrypted communications platform.¹² The platform was reportedly used by criminal networks, including those associated with Albanian organized crime, to coordinate illegal activities. Based on intelligence from Ghost, Australian nationals with suspected links to Albanian groups were arrested in September 2024 and February 2025 for alleged involvement in cannabis cultivation and trafficking.¹³

This case not only presents further evidence of Balkan criminal groups’ activity in Australia, but also demonstrates how technology has facilitated international cooperation among criminals of different nationalities.

Balkan criminal networks are not a new phenomenon in Australia. Their presence can be traced back to the Yugoslav diaspora from the 1980s and early 1990s.¹⁴ Over time, some individuals became involved in organized crime, often through outlaw motorcycle gangs, which Australian police see as a major threat.¹⁵ A key figure was Zeljko Mitrovic, a high-ranking Hells Angels member of Serbian descent. He was killed in 2013 by his former methamphetamine cook, Michael Basanovic,¹⁶ who was sentenced three years later to a minimum of 21 years in prison for his murder.¹⁷

Balkan groups currently compete in Australia with other powerful actors such as Italy’s ’Ndrangheta, while Middle Eastern, Asian and Chinese syndicates also remain highly active.¹⁸ More recently, Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Latin America’s biggest criminal organization,¹⁹ has also emerged as a significant threat to Australia.²⁰

Balkan networks could gain even more influence in Australia if they extend collaborations in Western Europe and Latin America, where they have respectively already worked with the ’Ndrangheta and the PCC.²¹ Such partnerships provide Balkan networks access to established routes and logistics, alongside protection in new environments.

Relying on diaspora

Montenegro’s organized criminal networks have a long history in Australia. Over time, criminal groups have strategically expanded their areas of operation using their strongholds in Latin America, wider international connections and diaspora communities in Australia itself. By leveraging existing kinship and social ties, these groups aim to strengthen their presence in Australia’s illicit drug market, facilitating logistics, transportation and distribution efforts.

For example, Vaso Ulić, a Montenegrin of Albanian descent, has been linked by law enforcement to international drug trafficking for more than two decades.²² He has drawn the attention of police in both the Western Balkans and Australia, where he is considered a key figure in transnational cocaine smuggling networks.²³

Ulić reportedly moved to Australia in 1979, initially engaging in petty crime in Sydney.²⁴ Over time, he allegedly became the head of a network involved in large-scale drug trafficking.²⁵ Although primarily based in Sydney, his network reportedly operated across Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Ulić left Australia in 2004 and returned to Montenegro, where he is suspected by the Montenegrin authorities of continuing his involvement in international drug smuggling.²⁶

In 2017, the Australian Federal Police publicly requested more information about Vaso Ulić’s activities in Australia since 2004.

Photo: Australian Federal Police Facebook page

Around 2020, he allegedly partnered with the Kavač clan, one of two major Slavic-speaking criminal organizations from Montenegro, in the cocaine trade.²⁷ Between 2020 and 2022, he was suspected of leading a group of more 10 members that smuggled at least 2.47 tonnes of cocaine from Colombia to Australia via Ecuador.²⁸

The cocaine was allegedly purchased for €4 500 per kilogram and sold in Australia for up to €80 000 per kilogram, with around 20% of these revenues used to cover extraction costs in Australia.²⁹ For coordination operations, the group members reportedly used two encrypted communication platforms: Sky ECC and ANOM.³⁰ In May 2025, the Podgorica Higher Court confirmed a cocaine trafficking indictment against Ulić, two alleged high-ranking members of the Kavač clan and 17 other suspects.³¹ In October 2025, Ulić stated before a judge in Podgorica that he was not guilty of the police accusations.³² The trial against Ulić is ongoing.

Ulić had also been charged and convicted for earlier drug shipments to Australia. In 2019, he received a two-year prison sentence after admitting to organizing drug smuggling to Australia in 2008, specifically the maritime transport of 60 kilograms of high-purity MDMA powder.³³

Another relevant example is Gjelosh Nikollaj, who, like Ulić, has roots in the Montenegrin-Albanian community and a history of drug trafficking. Nikollaj was imprisoned in 2006 for importing 161 kilograms of MDMA into Australia and was out on parole at the time of his arrest in 2021.³⁴ The arrest took place as part of an operation code-named Ironside,³⁵ which intercepted millions of messages on the ANOM app.³⁶ He was arrested alongside two other people when he attempted to collect a shipment believed to contain 3 tonnes of cocaine from a storage facility in Sydney. The group allegedly sourced cocaine in Colombia, transported it to Ecuador using fast boats and intended to ship it on to Australia inside toilet paper rolls.³⁷ Nikollaj was granted bail in March 2025 after spending almost four years in custody awaiting trial. His bail conditions included an AU$3 million surety, electronic monitoring and home detention.³⁸

The cases of Ulić and Nikollaj suggest a pattern in which Montenegrin-Albanian actors serve as facilitators in global drug supply chains to Australia. The same applies to two individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Gačanin and Sani al-Murda.

Gačanin, a Bosnia and Herzegovina native with Dutch citizenship, is a major figure in international drug trafficking and leads the Tito and Dino cartel.³⁹ His drug network is connected to Latin America, South Africa and Australia. It reportedly established front companies in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, posing as legitimate exporters of berries, cocoa and coal to conceal substantial cocaine shipments. Some of the alliances that support his outreach in Australia connect to Dubai, where some high-ranking members of Balkan criminal networks reside.⁴⁰

South Africa has become an important transit hub for cocaine moving from Latin America to Australia, as evidenced by Gačanin’s operations relying heavily on Durban’s port,⁴¹ where cocaine shipments were repackaged before being sent to their final destinations in Australia. Allegedly, his influence over specific ports and terminals in Durban enabled his organization to man­ipulate shipping procedures and minimize detection.⁴²

Gačanin reportedly introduced Sani al-Murda — an associate of the Škaljari clan, Montenegro’s second strongest criminal organization — to the cocaine business.⁴³ Australia was a key destination for al-Murda’s operations, as evidenced by Sky ECC communications within his network. In February 2021, al-Murda claimed he sent 600 kilograms of cocaine to Australia and awaited confirmation. He stated that his network could smuggle between 1 000 and 1 500 kilograms aboard fishing vessels, but was cautious about increasing shipments above that range.⁴⁴

In November 2023, a Dutch court sentenced Gačanin in absentia to seven years in prison for drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe.⁴⁵ Meanwhile, Belgium is searching for al-Murda on the basis of an INTERPOL Red Notice.⁴⁶ Gačanin, al-Murda and their lawyers have not issued any statements regarding the accusations.

Further growth ahead?

Seizures, arrests and criminal proceedings in Australia and the Western Balkans point to the growing presence of both Albanian-speaking and Slavic-speaking criminal groups in Australia’s cocaine trade. While Balkan criminal networks do not yet dominate Australia’s drug market, their influence is rising steadily. The history of their criminal activities demonstrates their ability to expand and to adapt swiftly. Their growing influence is built on three interrelated dynamics: strategic alliances with non-Balkan organizations, inter-group cooperation between Slavic and Albanian groups, and technological adaptation.

Technological advances — especially encrypted apps — have been crucial to these groups’ activity in Australia. This technology facilitates the planning of maritime ship­ments and drug transfers while minimizing detection risks. Although these tools can be risky if hacked, Balkan groups are quick to adapt to new communication methods.

Collectively, these developments indicate that Western Balkan networks are strategically positioned to expand further in Australia, leveraging alliances, cooperation, technology and new trafficking routes.

Notes