The connections of criminal groups from the Balkans to Venezuela

Organized criminal groups from the Balkans also have connections in Venezuela. This is evidenced by cases of cocaine seizures, arrests, and judicial proceedings that have been completed or are still ongoing.

These groups have been identified by international organizations, such as EUROPOL and INTERPOL, as among the main actors in cocaine trafficking from Latin American countries to Europe.

Venezuela has come into the international spotlight as a transit country for cocaine trafficking following the arrest of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro by United States forces in early January.

Maduro will face trial in the US on an indictment charging him with overseeing a cocaine trafficking network that has collaborated with violent groups, including the Mexican Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, the leftist Colombian FARC rebels and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.

Maduro denied the charges at the first hearing held in a New York court.

What is the importance of Venezuela for criminal groups from the Balkans?

As Sasha Djordjevic from the Global Initiative to Combat Transnational Criminal Organizations (GI-TOC) points out to Radio Free Europe, Venezuela is important for cocaine smuggling, in which criminal networks from the Western Balkans are involved, because it constitutes a "strategic corridor outbound from Latin America to the Atlantic."

From there, most cocaine goes either directly to Europe, or via West Africa to Europe.

According to him, for criminal groups from the Balkans, Venezuela is important, but not the main destination for cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe.

In this sense, countries like Colombia and Brazil are much more important, and in recent years even Ecuador.

Maduro's arrest and US actions against criminal groups involved in cocaine trafficking, according to Djordjevic, will not have much impact on these groups, whose members originate from Balkan countries.

"Given that these groups have always been flexible, I assume that those groups that have used Venezuela will find alternative routes in these countries where, in my opinion, there are much more important bases," he estimates.

Who are the main actors?

The connections of criminal groups from the Balkans to Venezuela were revealed through the seizure of cocaine off the coast of Aruba, near Venezuela, in February 2020.

In that case, the Dutch navy stopped the ship "Aressa", which had previously been anchored in the Venezuelan port of Guarana. 5 tons of cocaine were seized on board the ship.

During the operation, 11 Montenegrin citizens, members of the ship's crew, were arrested. According to the Montenegrin Police Directorate, the cocaine seizure in Aruba was the result of cooperation between Montenegro, the United Kingdom, Serbia and the Netherlands.

Before the court in Aruba, the Montenegrin citizens were sentenced in March 2021 to sentences ranging from nine to 15 years in prison.

EUROPOL linked the cocaine seized in Aruba to Serbian citizen Miroslav Starčević, arrested in May 2023 along with 12 other people. They are accused by authorities in Serbia of international drug trafficking.

As confirmed to Radio Free Europe by the High Court in Belgrade, the legal proceedings against this group are nearing completion.

Serbian police have described Starcevic as the main leader of "the largest criminal drug trafficking organization from the Balkans" that was uncovered with the help of EUROPOL.

According to the Serbian Police, the cartel led by Starčević is behind shipments of many tons of cocaine that have arrived in Europe from Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, but also through West Africa.

Starcevic's group in GI-TOC reports is linked to the Kavac clan, a criminal clan originating from Montenegro.

The Kavaç and Shkalar clans are from Montenegro. They are two armed clans, and more than 60 people have lost their lives in clashes since 2014.

No response from the Interior Ministries of Serbia and Montenegro

It is not known whether and to what extent criminal groups, whose members originate from Serbia and Montenegro, are still involved in cocaine trafficking linked to Venezuela.

The Serbian Ministry of Interior, nor that of Montenegro, has responded to these questions until the publication of this text.

EUROPOL briefly told REL that the organization has no direct cooperation with Venezuela, so data on the involvement of criminal groups from the Balkans is obtained indirectly, from the police of these countries.

Criminal groups from the Western Balkan countries, in reports by international agencies such as EUROPOL and INTERPOL, are considered important for cocaine trafficking from Latin America, mainly towards Western European countries.

This position, according to GI-TOC reports, they have built for decades, mainly through direct connections with cocaine producing and distributing countries.

Why is Venezuela special?

What makes Venezuela interesting, says Đorđević of GI-TOC, is the use of sea and air transport for cocaine shipped from this country.

"They are small aircraft, for which control and monitoring is much lower than for commercial flights," he explains.

Cocaine is not produced in Venezuela, but according to reports from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Venezuela is considered one of the main transit countries for cocaine, which is mainly produced in Colombia and then distributed to the US and Europe.

Strong indications that parts of the Venezuelan state apparatus are involved in criminal activities come from the findings of the Global Crime Index, according to which Venezuela ranks in the top ten percent of countries in the world for the influence of criminal actors within the country.

Annual reports for this index are published by GI-TOC, a non-governmental organization based in Geneva.

The latest report, published in November 2025, states that Colombian guerrilla groups "manage supply chains in collaboration with corrupt Venezuelan officials."

"The groups have integrated themselves into local communities, often manipulating young people into working for them under the guise of legal employment, and have taken over local justice systems and governance structures," the report notes.

It adds that the symbiotic relationship between Colombian guerrilla groups and Venezuelan state officials has facilitated their operations, resulting in "minimal violence but considerable control over border regions." /REL/