the organized crime and transition in western balkans

issue
2
• year
1
december 2002.
FORUM ZA ETNIČKE ODNOSE
FORUM FOR ETHNIC RELATION
The magazine of FER
REPORT ON
THE ORGANIZED CRIME
AND TRANSITION
IN WESTERN BALKANS
a p r i l 2 0 0 2 . forum 1
C M Y K
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
INTRODUCTION
T
his Report is part of the project of the Forum for Ethnic
Relations (Forum) -Terrorism and Organized Crime/
Challenges to Security and Safety of the Western
Balkans- that was sponsored by Rockefeller Brothers
Fund, New York, US.
The Report was compiled by an expert team of the
Forum, composed of the experts from Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and
Serbia, leading by Dragana Markovic, LL.M., attorney at law,
Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Belgrade, Serbia - Editor
of the Report, Head of Expert Team for Organized Crime and
Dusan Janjic, Ph.D., Senior science advisor of the Institute of
Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Forum for Ethnic
Relations, Belgrade.
(1) Purpose and Methodology of the Report
The purpose of the Report is to identify the problems
relating to organized crime in the region of Western Balkans,
particularly in Serbia and Montenegro, to define the most frequent forms of organized crime, to analyze the legal regulations in force and its constraints and to point out to the causes that should be tackled and propose certain strategies but
also to recommend some specific measures that could be
helpful to combat organized crime.
The Report is a snap shot of the situation and offers recommendations for strategy of prevention of organized crime;
it compiles and analyzes the data available in the media, statutory documents (laws, decrees and regulations) and international documents (conventions and recommendations of the
international organizations), research and reports, expert
analyses, newspaper articles, video and audio records in the
Serbian language (for Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Croatia) Macedonian (for Macedonia) and
Albanian (Macedonia, Kosovo) and similar sources on the
organized crime as well as the view of the political elite and
the public at large on the same. The interviews were also conducted with individuals in politics, economy, police and the
military and the media that were either dealing with the problem or are part of the organized crime.
ates for profit, via illicit activities, ensuring its existence by
resorting to threats of force as well as by bribing state officials
to avoid, to some extent, law enforcement The organized
crime is targeting legal goods and services in high demand
and its monopoly control on illegal markets.
Since the effects of the UN Convention against transnational crime, Palermo, 2000, are undoubtedly important for
the standardization of transnational struggle against organized crime, and the definitions from the Convention are going
to become part of the internal legal framework of many countries, so the expert team of the Forum accepted the same definition for the requirements of this Report.
The Convention in its Article 2 defined the following elements of the organized crime:
"Organized criminal group" shall mean a structured group
of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences established in accordance with this
Convention, on order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit;
"Serious crime" shall mean conduct constituting an
offence punishable by a maximum depravation of liberty of at
least four years or a more serious penalty;
"Structured group" shall mean a group that is not randomly formed for the immediate commission of an offence
and that does not need to have formally defined roles for its
members, continuity of its membership or a developed structure.
An offence is transnational in nature (Article 1 of the
Convention) if:
It is committed in more than one state;
It is committed in one State but a substantial part of its
preparation, planning direction or control takes place in
another State;
It is committed in one State but it involves an organized
criminal group that engages in criminal activities in more than
one State, or
It is committed in one State but has substantial effects in
another State.
(2) Definition of the phenomenon of organized crime
A special problem encountered in the analysis was a correct definition of the notion of the subject phenomenon, and
in the case of the Report, the notion of the organized crime.
Most of theoretical definitions mainly agree that "the
organized crime functions like a company that rationally oper-
For internal informing • the publisher: The Forum for Ethnic Relations - Beograd,
45 Narodnog fronta; tel/fax: +38 11 361 6654: e-mail: ferbgd@eunet.yu
for the publisher: Dušan Janjić the coordinator of FER • the editor: Tea Terzić
translator: Smiljana Kijurina •design: NikolaKostandinović • press: Inpres, Beograd
2 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
Part I
CASE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZED CRIME
IN THE REGION OF WESTERN BALKANS
T
he end of the cold war era and the fall of the Berlin wall
marked the end of communist regime. On the one hand
it was the beginning of transition of communist countries towards democratization, rule of law and development of the modern civil society. The transition process has
been marked also by deep socio and economic crises but also
numerous unrests, even wars in the former communist countries, namely first of all in the territories of former USSR, but
also former SFR of Yugoslavia. On the other, the process of
globalization was reinforced that brought about numerous
negative consequences, too.
One of the negative effects of transition and globalization
is the increase of various forms of organized transnational
crime, like trafficking in human beings, due to economic reasons or sexual exploitation, money laundry of vast amounts,
etc. In the same vain the "key technological innovations, particularly in the field of communications1, have created an
environment that enables criminals to attack information or
money, when and where it is most vulnerable similarly as the
beating, cars, shotguns, thermo lance and readily available
explosives have enhanced the practice of previous generations of thieves" No state borders hinder the groups of organized crime to bond, operate on both legal and illegal markets,
using non-crime experts and structures as infrastructure for
their criminal activities. In the period under review, organized crime has proven to be dynamic, adjustable to the changing environment due to new technological and market
requirements,4 to the war or international sanction circumstances and isolation of individual states by EU and UN.
Further on, thanks to increasing specialization many groups
of organized crime are capable of using loopholes in the law
and avail themselves of the possibilities offered by various
legal provisions, jurisdictions and legal; remedies for law
enforcement in different legal systems.
Break up of SFRY, blood shedding wars (Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina), instable and troubled Kosovo,
Croatia
Slovenia
Number of
criminal acts
murders
Zagreb
Belgrade
Drugs
Number of
criminal acts
Racketeering
murders
Drugs
Croatia
Racketeering
BOSNIA and
HERCEGOVINA
weapon
trafficking
Belgrade
Drugs
Sarajevo
SERBIA
Drugs
MONTENEGRO
Adriatic Sea
Podgorica
Skopje
Macedonia
weapon
trafficking
Drugs
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 3
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
degradation of the state status and dissolution of almost all
vital elements of social fiber of former Yugoslavia, in the case
of FRY namely Serbia, and Montenegro was additionally radicalized by adverse effects of the international politics and
economic isolation of FRY under the EU and UN sanctions
and permanent political pressures of the international community culminating in NATO bombing in spring 1999. The
neighboring Macedonia also suffered the losses due to this
sanctions and was additionally economically isolated by
Greece / one of the EU member states.
In the case of the Balkan, as well as Russian and Japanese
mashie, there is no top mafia boss. Given the weakness of
nation states and broken regional and international ties it
favored flexibility and efficiency of organized crime/ It was
demonstrated that more individual have more chances to
establish connections with the authorities, police and bribe
them (Blic, Beograd, 31 December 2002 - 2 January 2003,
10).
king of cigarettes" (Publika, Podgorica, 15 July 2002, 5). His
friend assigned Knežević away from Montenegro at a time,
supposedly under the international pressure, in 1998,
because he allegedly wanted to weaken Djukanović and
expand the market for the activities of Knežević's partners
from Croatia. However, there is no doubt that the whole scandal relies on wider and stronger political factors in Belgrade
and Podgorica who attempted to remove Djukonović from
the process of establishing new relations between Serbia and
Montenegro. The example of these abuses of organized crime
scandals illustrates the fact that politicization of the struggle
against organized crime, for the time being is beneficial
rather than not to the organized crime. All in all, it may be
inferred that the response of the public to the phenomena of
organized crime is largely burdened by political, ethnic and
other abuses and manipulations and often paranoid.
Characteristic for the Western Balkans is the connection
between political and ethnic ties and division of labor with the
organized crime. It is reflected in numerous scandals, which
break up around that issue within the countries of the Region.
It is evident that only opposing politicians or ethnic groups
are publicly roll called. Thus, within the phenomenon of ethnical view of the world it came about that in Serbia the
Albanians are blamed for all the international organized
crime. It turns out as if all the Albanian politicians are directly involved in the organized crime, namely dealing in certain
"economy" by smuggling cigarettes, narcotics, weapons,
"white slavery", "with the exception perhaps of Ibrahim
Rugova" as Nebojsa Covic, a Serbian politician defined this
wide held view. (Politika, Beograd, 6, 7 January 2002, 7).
Otherwise, Čović himself, who is assigned by Belgrade to
work in Kosovo is under the suspicion of his political opponents and many Albanians in Kosovo too, for his ties with the
organized crime and corruption. At the same time, the
Albanian public opinion in Kosovo blames the Serian secret
police, namely Serbs for murders, assassinations and crime.
The example of the use of scandals for political ends is
offered by Montenegro. Namely, the President of
Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, was pin pointed by the
Serbian media throughout 2001 and 2002, with the help of
his political opponents from Serbia and Montenegro, for
being implicated in cigarette smuggling. A parliamentary
inquiry committee was established in Montenegro to investigate all the allegations. But, the blames continue after the
completion of the work of the commission. It is evident however that the charges continue from the time of Milosevic
media and propaganda machinery in 1998. However, it
becomes ever more evident that behind these attacks are individuals and groups implicated in cigarette smuggling. Thus,
the Montenegrin newspapers Publika claimed that the main
organized of those attacks was Ratko Knežević "uncrowned
The area of FRY, namely Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo
are particularly threatened by trans national organized crime.
4 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
(1) FRY: Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo
The first signs of criminals getting organized in Serbia
should be traced back to the eighties, when the first specialized groups for theft and transfer of cars evolved. "Automafia" born at that time is active still today. It is active in West
European countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland) where new cars are stolen, as
a rule, and transferred to Serbia. In Serbia, through the network of car waste and car mechanics shops where they are
given new engine and frame numbers, and with the help of
the individuals employed in the Police, provided with false
documents and if possible taken off the insurance schemes.
The insurance "take off" is a relatively new area, where crash
courses are held for individuals with respective education and
hacker experience, since this is electronically manipulated.
Then they are driven, via a channel in Montenegro to
Albania, or via another channel to Bulgaria and Romania for
further transfer to Turkey and Near East. The local criminals
organize the transfer of cars from Serbia but their assistants
and drivers are also Bulgarians, Romanians, Moldavians,
Turks and Albanians. In some cases the cars in Serbia are
disassembled and then sold in parts. Car mafia is composed
of several groups structured in a network. As a rule, the individual parts of the network have no mutual communication
and are not linked on a permanent basis, rather ad hoc.
Among the causes for upswing of organized crime in FRY
in the last decade of the twentieth century, the following may
be singled out:
- Many years of international isolation,
- Warring surroundings during the 90's,
- Systematic relocation of flow of goods and capital from
legal to illicit ones,
- Extreme impoverishment of the largest part of the population as well as
- Limited reach of the existing legal regulations and institutional infrastructure.
In such circumstances the governing nomenclature, at the
time of Milosevic, has actively worked towards shaping a
hybrid, semi market and semi command economy. Reduction
of foreign economic relations to the level of smuggling essentially reduced production and social product and caused the
out flow of social product through additional payment of each
individual transaction made with foreign countries. At the
same time nationalistic rhetoric has been encouraged on the
vital threats to nation and economy, aimed at masking the
«big robbery of the people» (through hyperinflation, pyramidal private banks and frozen foreign exchange savings of citizens). A vivid example is devaluation of local currency, which
forced the entire population to daily trade foreign exchange at
the street, although trading in golden coins, foreign currency
and foreign exchange is incriminated as a serious crime punishable with long-term prison sentences (Article 167 of Penal
Code of Yugoslavia), it rarely happened in practice that anyone was actually sentenced. Moreover, the ruling nomenclature itself organized the network of street dealers of foreign
currency and thus most directly manipulated hyperinflation.
The general rule was that the individuals belonging to nomenclature or close to it got the license to organize smugglers
channels for supply of deficient goods, provided a part of
their profit goes to political parties (first of all, SPS, JUL but
some others that were in opposition like SPO, New
Democracy and Democratic party) which made it possible.
Such escalation and undermining of legal system was the
most plastic example of anomy to the citizens that befall the
society as a whole. Racketeering on the part of nomenclature
reached the very tip of the pyramid as well as meticulously
developed smuggling channels, network of street dealers, resellers of smuggled goods and deficient products. This was
the basis on which organized crime got shaped, rooted and
cemented. The ruling nomenclature organized export of
sound money and its transfer to the private bank accounts
abroad under the pretext of protecting the conditions for economic activity in the country (largely in Cyprus).
During a decade of sanctions the economy in Serbia collapsed due to the lack of intermediaries and energy sources,
but it was also fundamentally looted. About one million people became jobless, while the same number is only formally
employed. Some 4,000 companies with out fashioned technology and non-functional engineering practices, and predominantly in social/state ownership, were ruined while only
a couple were privatized under suspicious circumstances,
enabling selected individuals to earn enormous profits via a
system, of import-export licenses. Corruption became a part
of daily life. Thanks to that a thin layer of the population
(around 2% of the total) connected with the highest state officials enabled fast reaches while at the same time the overall
social and economic situation of the citizens of Serbia deteriorated. The trend of expanding poverty, started at the eighties, deepened further to the level of nine tenths of the
Serbian population who experienced not only drastic drop in
living standards and quality of life but welcomed the democratic changes coping in misery and poverty. Moreover, in the
course of the nineties Serbia became a resort to some
600,000 refugees and IDPs from the region of ex-SFRY, who,
due to the war were compelled to leave their homes. Since the
economy of Serbia was not capable to integrate them and
make possible a decent adaptation to the new environment,
most of the refugees, living without any civil or political rights
and in misery was faced with an alternative to give in to the
irregular and extremely modest humanitarian assistance or to
try and find a niche in a gray zone of economy. Their otherwise marginalized social life was additionally burdened and
complicated by this fact while the organized crime welcomed
them as cheap labor force ready to face versatile challenges
Taken together it created almost ideal conditions for expansion and strengthening of organized crime, parts of which got
involved in the transnational organized crime.
It all contributed to the creation of a picture of the world
in which the aspects of criminality became relative in terms of
value to the degree that it became acceptable and not particularly socially dangers for the citizens. The more so since in
mutual settling of accounts of the criminal groups their leaders got murdered, which made an illusion to the public via
media that the organized crime is about to disappear, that the
organizations headed by them cease to exist. In fact, the
trend was quite opposite. The organized activities of criminal
groups started amalgamating. In reality, the organized groups
drove trailers of cigarettes to Croatia, than to Bosnia and
Kosovo; Romanian and Moldavian girls were moved from
bordellos in Bosnia to Kosovo, staying in the Serbian towns
and the narcotics from the east via Kosovo reached the smallest village.
The wars in former SFRY left behind, apart from tens of
thousands of casualties, disastrous devastations of material
goods and moved large portions of inhabitants, and an ideal
framework for action of various more or less organized criminal groups. With the onset of war conflicts all the ruling
nomenclatures in the former Yugoslav republics signaled to
the criminals in emigration to come back and help patriotic
projects. There is but a few of the criminals who missed to go
to the war scene to at least smell the operations. The affirmation of the Serb national feeling among the criminals,
propaganda about patriotism, good treatment to the prisoners of war in the struggle for «defense of the nation», quickly
substituted the popularity of political engagement. Previous
practice was relied on, when in escaping to the West in the
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 5
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
80's they asked for political asylum alleging that »back in the
homeland they had been exposed to persecution for their
views.« Thus very quickly a gang of adherents to Chetnik
movement gathered together, leaving Yugoslavia, and their
thick police records. Somewhere. Like in Serbia and
Montenegro, certain number of criminals was released
through amnesty, provided they would join one of the Para
militaries. The action of those paramilitaries was marked by
crimes against civilian population, torture of POWs and especially looting of property in the war stricken areas. Towns and
villages stricken by war were systematically looted, including
often the joinery, usable fittings and roofing tiles irrespective
of the nationality of owners. The looted goods were sold for
bagatelle in «own» republics. Although various criminal
groups were often not mutually connected, nevertheless an
informal system of racketeering was established, and the looting finally flew into one center (Serbian volunteer guard in
Erdut). War has thus provided a chance for individual criminals to «launder» their biographies through allegedly patriotic activities, but also to get rich through looting. The groups
that were forged in that way on the war fronts remained
strongly linked after the war just shifting the area of their
activities. Furthermore the warring environment affects the
criminality in a specific way. The military on the front need
absolutely everything, from cigarettes to the girls for entertainments and all the needs are satisfied in the quickest and
simplest way by the organized crime. As the needs of the military are very often identical to the needs of the state, the
state authorities tolerated those forms of organized crime,
even participating and organizing them. Such forms of organized crime involved in criminal activities, the groups smuggling cigarettes, spirits, and weapons. Looting and take-away
of property of war victims, acquired frightening dimensions
over time. Under these conditions the criminal groups are getting directly connected with military but primarily with paramilitary formations at the front, composed largely of the persons to whom the war environment is familiar-persons
inclined to crime. Thus even more coherent groups were
formed, which, based on informal and formal connections
covered the whole Balkans with their network. They know no
frontiers. Even the front lines were no barriers for linking.
The coupling of organized crime and ruling socialist nomenclature in Serbia was completely transparent. Benevolent attitude of Police towards the criminals, particularly known bosses of big criminal clans was evident. In the public and in mass
media the bosses of mafia groups appeared together with
high state officials. Patriotic rhetoric spiced with ultra nationalism, not only justified the criminals but also turned them
into national heroes. The bosses of organized crime for their
part took oath of fidelity to the ruling elite and positioned
themselves against opposition and dissatisfied citizens as the
last line of defense of the regime. Joint ventures of Mafiosi
and state and party officials were celebrated as success in the
struggle against «unjust and unprovoked sanctions». Thos
6 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
operations ranged from oil and oil derivatives smuggling,
through cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and narcotics to the
trade in arms.
Arms' trafficking is also organized. Possession and unauthorized purchase of arms is punishable in Yugoslavia under
a separate Law on arms and ammunitions. In practice, however, no one has ever been punished even as an organizer of
such an act. Although, due to the proximity of war operations
whole groups existed for supply of arms and illegal sales,
either to the individuals or other groups which were dealing
in organized crimes. Individual leading criminals were
responsible for supplying Para military groups with armament that took part in wars. They were served by customs
offices run by Milosevic's follower Mihalj Kertes- Bracika, by
the banks created according to the logic of pyramidal operations (such as Dafiment, YUSCANDIC, Karic bank and others). It was all under the eye of the very peak of the state,
Milosevic, primarily via State security service and its then
chief Jovica Stanišić, namely Rade Marković. On the illegal
market in Serbia during the nineties one could have bought
any weapons at all, at the prices slightly above the manufacturing. For example in the period 1992-1995 the price of an
automatic gun was some 1,200 DEM, automatic pistol
Scorpion and Uzi 800 to 1,000 DEM, while the prices of
revolvers and pistols ranged within 200 to 300 DEM. Large
quantities and low prices of arms on the market in Serbia
made the criminals to export those «goods» to the neighboring countries and regions. Thus the organized groups of criminals from Serbia sold the weapons to separatist groups in
Kosovo (KLA) to the Muslim army in BiH or to the police
forces in Macedonia.
During the international sanctions most of the organized
groups of criminals fitted into some sort of smuggling,
Naturally, the most lucrative form of smuggling was oil and oil
derivatives. But the top authority in Serbia strictly controlled
that form of smuggling. By joint action of the customs, border
and traffic police, selecting banking officials and people from
the very top of the state the main oil provisions were secured.
Since that was insufficient to fully cover the requirements of
the country, the cross border smuggling was tacitly allowed.
The local criminals find their room that easily and quickly
established close ties with the «colleagues» in the neighboring
countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Macedonia). Oil
smuggling was booming and from illicit turned into legal
mode of purchase and sales of this commodity. Whole networks were organized starting from the individuals who provided oil abroad to individual distributors among whom some
foreign citizens (usually in Bulgaria and Romania, where oil
was purchased and customs officers of both states). For a
turnover of one tone they were usually not subject to racketeering; any larger quantity yes. Naturally, most of the street
vendors paid racket to the local criminals to be left alone.
Street vendors were removed from the streets as late as in
2001 but not yet completely eradicated. The organized
groups of criminals who were involved in cross border oil
smuggling but of other goods in shortage for consumption
could have remained relatively independent as long as their
area of operation was keep local. But as soon as their volume
of operations would become large scale (monthly profit over
50,000 DEM) they had to pay racket to some of their powerful sponsors. Powerful sponsors were at the first level the
local power wielders closely connected with local chief of
Police or Customs, so that they had the insight into the operations of smuggler groups. Someone in the top nomenclature
could not have done the transactions beyond local framework
without the knowledge and approval. Hence, a specific
pyramidal structure was at work here that limited itself to the
informal taxation.
Consumer goods (foods, textiles, house appliances) were
smuggled by a good portion of the citizens of Serbia. Most of
them have never before participated in any form of incriminated activities; sudden and spiraling impoverishment, general misery, joblessness, layoffs, hyperinflation, made a great
number of citizens of Serbia to look for alternative sources of
income in the gray economy. This was the way to supply partly the market scarce in goods, part of labor force was
employed and thereby relaxed otherwise enormous social tensions. The customs officers diligently collected the dues,
which fairly speaking have rarely reached the state budget,
but were not completely out of control of the nomenclature,
either. In the street market where such goods were sold there
was always a looming possibility that financial police or crim-
inal police or criminals in the service of one part of nomenclature collect an additional racket either by seizure of goods
or simple robbery of the earning. Any way the nineties in
Serbia will be remembered as a decade when all the towns
turned into «flee markets» with goods sold off the boxes, car
hoods or under the table. These sellers were mixed with dealers of foreign exchange and cigarettes, but unlike foreign
exchange and cigarettes that fall in higher ranks of organized
crime, the consumer goods smuggling was less organized. In
most cases the same individuals who brought it to the country sold it. It was only in the second half of the nineties that
smuggling groups specialized in certain fields- strong drinks,
chocolate, textiles accessories. As a consequence the choice
became narrower in those street markets but also the price
and patterns stabilizations.
When money is concerned the organized groups of criminals in Yugoslavia, were implicated in two types of the socalled jobs: money forgery - production and distribution of
false foreign even local banknotes as well as sales of foreign
exchange on the illicit market. Whole groups were making
banknotes in their own shops, mainly foreign, selling them, or
delivering ready-made false banknotes to Yugoslavia and distributed them here. Those criminal activities, almost by definition organized, were uncovered only sporadically as organized groups and punished as such, rather as individuals.
The organized crime in Serbia during the nineties is characterized by strong bonding with the ruling nomenclature,
reflected in versatile linkages (family, god fatherly, friendly,
party, and often and directly business like). The Police had its
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 7
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
Para military function, and politicians for the sake of «general national benefit» themselves organized all types of smuggling, so that almost complete foreign trade, when it should
have retained at least appearance of being legal, went through
illicit channels via local banks and off-shore companies in the
neighboring countries. The system of control mainly focused
on creating a comfortable environment for smooth activities
of the organized crime. Out of such an environment evolved
merger of upper and underworld, and inefficiency in combating large criminal organizations justified by the great number of problems facing the state. That is why the organized
crime in Serbia can hardly be separated from the ruling
nomenclature and in the last years of the Milosevic's rule
many income flows from both legal and illegal sources were
concentrated in the hands of his family and closer circle of
associates.
Police, particularly State security has often resorted, since
the late 60's, to the criminal for doing "dirty" business abroad.
That has especially been the case in settling the accounts with
political emigration groups and particularly murders of the
prominent emigration leaders. In return the criminals were
given valid traveling documents from the police as well as
guarantees that they would not be disturbed "at home." Since
by the beginning of the nineties there has been no serious
organized crime in Serbia because the criminals focused their
activities to the Western European countries (mostly to
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries),
and they rested and enjoyed themselves at home, this interlacing with police was not at that time known to the public.
Prior to great tremor in these parts the Yugoslav criminals
were thought of, written and spoken of in very mild, almost
romantic terms, first of all thanks to the fact that most of their
offences were committed in the Western European countries,
where the spent most of their prison days. That is why the
criminals have not been seen for quite some time as a serious
threat to security of the citizens if this country. They were perceived as "Robin Hoods who rob the capitalists of the world
for the sake of the poor". It was necessary to experience the
downfall of the Police before the public learned about the profile of the criminals in FRY. The image of romantic, somewhat
naive criminals as they had been portrayed in the press for
quite some time, even in literature was dispelled in 1990,
when Andrija Lakonic was shot in the known »Nana«, discotheque. Since the suspects were released soon after apprehension and went abroad, it was too late to stop the scandal
and discover the links between known criminals and the
Police. In the judicial process that ensured, mostly behind the
closed door, the details surfaced on how and in which way the
criminals are used to do the job of the Police, namely the state
and how they are paid for the arrangement. When the case
was closed, the deposed and dissatisfied frankly spoke in the
media and in detail how the local members of the underworld
were used mainly to square accounts with political emigra-
8 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
tion, granting them in advance the »indulgence« for some of
their »mild« criminal offences. Or handed them over forged
passports to do their »business« as far away from our borders
as possible.
Despite the fact that this notorious case made it clear how
much the criminals were dependent on the Police and state
interest of Yugoslavia, their »reputation« was nevertheless
preserved, primarily thanks to the media eager for shocking
stories, personalities, circulation, logically earnings. The
years that followed were a real paradise for the Yugoslav desperados Not only could they pursue their trade but were in a
position at any moment, to choose, if they had a good standing in the hierarchy of the underground, in which of the
newspapers started in the meantime, boasting with the money
they accumulated, acquaintances they made, friends from the
world of entertainment, influence. Hence, the mid 90's are
going to be remembered for most curious buzzwords made
up by the journalists so as to avoid presentation of truth when
introducing the criminals. »Tough fellows«, »Urban heroes«,
»Living on the edge «, »Don Corleone of Dorćol«, »and The
King of Zvezdara«, »True Serbian hero«, »Obilić reincarnated«, »New age businessmen«... are some of hundreds of titles
of the stories glorifying the criminals. Their troublesome lives,
where any sin became relative, were the subject of the whole
feuilletons, abundantly illustrated by photos from their holidays, family parties or in the company of entertainment stars
and athletes. Simply, this is the picture they wanted the others
to have about them.
What the criminals from FRY kept talking about themselves and the others in hundreds of interviews, confessions,
biographies, thinking, could be compressed in a couple of
lines revealing their psychological profile. Almost obsessively
they insisted on the following:
- "Some others yes but me no. I have never been nor will
be police whistleblower. There is nothing worse, I despise
such people."
- "Due to my »sins from the youth« Police is after me even
nowadays, although I am committed to »legal business and
family«.
- "They were harshly punished abroad only for being from
Yugoslavia, Serbia and »they hate us only because we are
cleverer and more competent."
- "They have numerous friendly and business connections
in many firms and institutions."
- "They correctly do their business,« be it debt collection.
- "They protect their friends and never attack, although
they are always on alert to defend and return the blow."
- "They carry arms »just to protect themselves from the
criminals«.
- "They support families and friends in depravation
money, and their employees have »humane treatment and
high earnings«.
- "Good neighbors, helping the elderly, vulnerable and
deprived. They are always prepared to be benefactors."
-"They are sports fans. Although they like »excitement
because of their temperament«, they never touched narcotics,
they avoid strong drinks, and
- "Regularly advise the younger not to take their »thorny
path«."
Numerous "rebels" with criminal records were amongst
the demonstrators in the nineties that walked the streets of
Belgrade and around Serbia. So, next to the regime but also
the then opposition and present regime got their own striking
fist among the criminals. Another sort of "patriots" stayed
with the Milosevic followers. Mostly those who acquired
already considerable possibilities to multiply easily earned
capital. However, in less than ten years, those who made the
realm of untouchables died the "ideas" they followed and did
a lot for their sake, which made them look for media to tell
their truth, disappeared. Ljuba Zemunac and Rade Ćaldović
Ćenta joined, in the past the Chetnik movement in Germany.
Đorđe Božović Giška, Branislav Matić Beli, Aleksandar
Knežević Knele, to a lower extent and their friends Goran
Vuković and Zoran Dimitrov Žuća, kept appearing in front
rows at the opposition meetings. Branislav Lainović Dugi
together with Giška headed the Serbian voluntary guard. The
Commander of the Serbian guard, Željko Ražnatović Arkan,
presented himself as a genuine rather than a patriot out of
narrow personal interest. In a different way the same has
been claimed by Darko Ašanin. The demonstrators from Novi
Beograd who were going to the opposition rally blamed
Radislav Trlajić, Bata Trlaja, as organizer and leader of the
hired tugs who intercepted them with baseball bats. The disappearance of Isa Lera Džamba has never been clarified,
although it is known who, and in what condition saw him last.
From officially still unknown reasons brutally liquidated were
people close to the regime or the power wielders from the
institutions representing it: Radojica Nikčević, Vlada
Kovačević Tref, Miša Nikšić, Branislav Trojanović Trojke,
Slavko Mijović, Milan Đorđević Bombona. Due to the similar
or, perhaps, quite opposite motives, since the official investigation established literary nothing, killed were Zoran
Uskoković Skole, Zoran Davidović Ćanda, Zoran Šijan,
Zvonko Plećić, Miodrag Stojanović Gidra, Jusuf Bulić, Zoran
Kovačević Koča, Žorž Stanković, Bojan Petrović and dozens
of others.
Hundreds of assassinations, which in Serbia and
Montenegro remained uncovered, have killed the idea fostered among the poor that »audacity« can help achieve more
than in any other way. In a relatively short time the initial
image crashed, which the »tough guys« were so proud of.
Instead of costly training suits and snickers for night entertainment now they started wearing black tie. They went only
to check places where no unknown comes and the arms are
as a rule guarded by girls or someone younger, ready to sacrifice him. They publicly communicate with the police and
media mostly via attorneys at law. They no longer speak of
their«businesses«. Briefly, they were much more cautious.
The social motivation of the criminals and their »initial
rebel« irrespective of the stage they reached has not been concealed. In Serbia and particularly in Belgrade, an average
leader of a criminal group is between 35 and 40, who never
worked and has no single day of experience. And surrounded
by wealth worth 15-20 million euro. The only weak point is
the threat of deprivation of illicit acquisition of property,
according to Marko Nicović, President of the Board of directors of the International Police Association for Drug
Suppression (Blic, Belgrade, 31 December 2002 - 2 January
2003, 10). According to what the actors themselves admitted
the vast majority turned to crime out of a simple need to gain
money they never had. Every suburb, every part of town that
has an awareness of being special, where a good student was
the embodiment of servile mentality was predestined to create types of heroes with a limited shelf life. They grouped in
poverty in which they were growing up together, trying to
make up for anything that their parents could not have afforded. Even a superfluous look at the conditions in which almost
all the young men were killed in the last 7 to 8 years suffices
to complete almost one dimensional illustration - suburb,
workers' families, rarely former lower middle class, poverty
due to wars, hyperinflation, unemployment, without a promising outlook in the future. That is why a sort of protection
was looked for in a collective, because simply there was mo
money to pay the lawyers, and the whole streets were compelled to collect money as to make someone accept to appear
as a proxy of defense in the court. That is why they fled
abroad. At the worst times the criminals looked for protection
and coverage even among "their akin" in the Police and
Judiciary, although they would never admit it.
Press coverage of crime in the country generally, by the
majority of media in FRY up to 1994, both printed and electronic was mainly based on the ancient platitude on " the most
safe society in Europe". All the time the organized crime continued to be a taboo for all the media controlled by the
regime. Not only that it was not covered, but also the high
police officers, due to frequent reports in the then already
started independent private media, claimed that the organized crime was non-existent. The »drive« of persuading the
citizens of FRY that the organized crime in the country is concocted by »foreign mercenaries«, was joined from time to
time by politicians, using their frequent appearances in the
state media. Thus, the state, with all its authorities took the
position of systematic and deep criminalisation of society.
Among the rivalry gangs at that time the real war was
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 9
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
waged, which left several dozens of
corpses of killed criminals and newly
made tycoons- businessmen who
acquired their wealth in dubious transactions with or without the blessing of the
regime. These settlements of accounts
between rivalry gangs although attracted
great media attention were not properly
investigated or prevented or suppressed.
The impression was that police does not
want to interfere in the mutual square
outs of the criminals. But, when at the
end of the nineties and particularly after
the assassination of Arkan, a series of
murders ensued, it turned out that the
very ruling nomenclature had its fingers
in it. Numerous indications showed that
the trace of numerous contracted and
completely professionally performed
murders committed predominantly in
public places, lead to the very top of the
state, namely the Milosevics.
Settlements of rivalry gangs, apart
from rivalry for prestige, were most frequently due to unsettled financial disputes. These disputes
originated from collection of racket, which is the oldest trade
and almost key characteristic of organized groups of criminals. Racketeering (i.e. protection against harassment by
other criminals) was the job of most of the known criminals
who have grown up to the bosses of gangs and organized
groups the time of their emigration. Racketeering of wider
scope in Serbia appeared only in the beginning of the nineties
when private business started expanding. As transition to the
market economy in Serbia was very slow and covered mainly
trade, with predominance of small shops and firms with negligible turnover, so racketeering had more a function of built
up of criminal image and marking of own territory than it had
high financial effects. Of course, those bosses of criminal
organizations that were on top, and never a single one had
succeeded forcing himself as a boss, have gathered more
funds because they were paid the most by other criminals.
That very domain, the collection of a part of profit from other
criminals gave rise to disputes, ending in murders or cross firing. The increase in the number of private restaurants, the
chains of small shops and the appearance of successful private firms brought about more possibility for racketeering.
But, the competition became harsher. So, the policemen started racketeering and the emissaries of individual high officials
in the nomenclature. In such a way the pyramidal structure of
racketeering got closed adding to kleptocratic structure of the
regime in Serbia yet another necessary characteristic. There,
as well as in other domains, the pyramid ended in the
Milosevic's family so that the whole Serbia turned into their
10 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
private feud. Racketeering of the criminals at a lower level
was relating to the profits they earned in robberies, thefts,
resale of stolen goods, prostitution, etc. The property crime,
particularly burglaries during 1992-1994 greatly expanded
relative to 1990, with an index of 265, to progressively slow
down in the coming years and level off in 1998 to 137. With
the exception of criminals-the beginners, acting on their own,
drug addicts and amateurs, who account 50-65%, there
remain the criminals acting within and organized group,
which means they systematically pay racket to those more
important than themselves. The organizers of prostitution,
particularly new forms that expanded in the 90's, agency for
business escort, agencies for sexual services, bordellosalmost always are parts of organization of criminals and are
subject to the payment of racket to be able to smoothly do
their job. It equally applies to the organizers of trade in
women, except in cases when other nationalities are involved,
which in the territory of Serbia are active, using it as a transit
station to the destination close to military bases of SFOR and
KFOR. Nevertheless, it should be noted that they consent to
paying the racket rather than to some of the known mafia
bosses to avoid unnecessary interference in their business,
reduce the risk of apprehension and ensure logistic support.
The last two years of the Milosevic rule (mid 1998 till 5
October 2000) marked the specific stage in the reporting by
the state media. While the independent media persisted
reporting on numerous examples of how the state and people
were looted, on institutionalization of organized crime, war
profiteers and disastrous consequences for the state, the journalists of the regime media had a task to defeat political opponents to the regime with full force, the independent media
and journalists writing for them, specially to discredit the
journalists who were writing about FRY as the state of organized crime. The regime journalists have been openly supported by the police in carrying out their tasks that in some cases
supplied them with juicy stories from the files of the state
security. The regime media were flooded with stories and
broadcastings devoted to the problem of growing criminality
in almost all European countries and many others. They kept
covering the lost young generations in the suburbs of
European metropolis, disastrous number of convicts in
American prisons, the corruption and drug addiction there,
brutality of law enforcement forces, settlement of accounts
between gangs out of any control, scandals around the names
of leading politicians. In the course of 1999 and 2000, when
it became clear that the regime in FRY was ruined under the
burden of complete looting and terrible criminalization of
society, the regime media kept reiterating that FRY is an oasis
of peace and tranquility The bloody square outs were reported as mutual conflicts among the criminals, soon to be sanctioned by the police, the trafficking was covered as a problem
to be suppressed quickly by the actions of market inspections,
while the trailers of illicit petrol and cigarettes remained without a single word, like 50.000 stolen cars in the country;,
assassination of the deputy police minister was covered as a
murder contracted abroad. On the assassination of the
Military minister of Yugoslavia no detail was reported, while
the murder of the owner of "Dnevni telegraf " was not mentioned for weeks at ll.
New era in the struggle against the organized crime
dawned in Serbia with the change of power. New authorities
directed part of their activities towards alleviation and eradication of organized crime. In that context special attention
was directed to the international cooperation and experience
of NGOs that used to tackle these problems, earlier.
The authorities in Serbia did quite a lot in establishing
bilateral regional cooperation with the neighboring countries.
Belgrade was successful in reaching and agreement on cooperation with UNMIK with the international police forces in
Kosovo in the field of exchange of data in joint actions in suppressing organized crime. That cooperation had significant
positive results during summer-autumn 2002, in uncovering
the channels of international cigarette trafficking. However,
the most important is that FRY on 14 December 2000 acceded to the UN Convention against transnational organized
crime, which was ratified on 27 June 2001. Many new possibilities were opened up for new forms of cooperation. The
Convention itself imposed the obligation of defining national
prevention program, uncovering and prevention of organized
crime.
In the national legislation, the organized crime in
Yugoslavia is currently sanctioned under the provisions of
Article 26 of the FRY Criminal Code ("The one who for the
purpose of committing criminal offence has created or used
the organization, gang or plot or a group or any other kind of
union, is liable for all criminal offences caused by the vicious
plan of those groups and will be sanctioned as if he committed them himself, notwithstanding whether he was, and in
which capacity, directly involved in committing any of those
offences.") Also, the special measures for security established
in Article 66 of the FRY Criminal Code are of great importance for control of organized crime - the ban on performing
trade, business or duties in the cases when certain business or
duty is used for performing criminal activity and committing
criminal offences, for example enabling illegal entry into the
country, money laundering, etc. Article 69 of FRY Criminal
Code is also important because it stipulates that the objects
used or meant to be used for committing criminal offences, or
which in committing criminal offence creates benefits, they
can be confiscated if they are the property of the offender.
The objects from item 1 of this Article can be confiscated if
necessary to protect the interests of public security or morality, but it shall not prevent the third parties to claim the damage from the offender. Law can establish the obligatory confiscation of objects. The most frequently applied measure is
defined in Article 70 of the FRY Criminal Code - expelling
criminals from the country. This measure is obligatory in
organized crime cases and for the foreign members of the
groups. The Yugoslav legislation also regulates the cases of
confiscating the financial benefits made by criminal offence,
what is established in special chapter VII of FRY Criminal
Code.
About the sanctioning of organized crime, it is important
to say that certain criminal offences are considered to be the
gravest and have higher sanctions in cases that they are committed by several individuals and in a group. However, it happens in court practice that the organizers of criminal offences
were neither detected nor sanctioned.
Even in cases of stolen cars and forged documents the
offenders could only be charged with the criminal offence of
covering up, for which the evidence was provided, without
any possibility of proving that in fact all of them made an
organized crime chain.
It was apparent in those cases that the following have had
clearly assigned roles in the chain namely:
Organized groups who only steel the cars and send them
on
The groups arranging business and contacting persons
interested in such cars
Groups completing the business by forging car documents
and
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 11
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
Drivers driving the cars and delivering them to the buyers.
The problem of car mafia has so far been solved slightly
faster than other forms of organized crime and received more
attention by the authorities because of international community pressure, as the big number of cars stolen in western
European countries has been driven to Yugoslavia and
"cleaned" - they are given the new engine and frame number,
new documents and new "legal" owner. This is so wide spread
that it had got the linguistics influence - those cars were not
"stolen" but "taken off the insurance". According to Serbian
Interior Ministry report the considerable results have been
achieved in suppressing vehicles stealing; thanks to undertaken measures and actions during 2001 the number of those
criminal offences has been reduced from 776 in January to
439 in December. 7,485 vehicles have been stolen, out of
which 3.520 were found and returned to their owners. Also
873 vehicles stolen in previous periods have been found and
returned to their owners. In Serbia, on average 92 vehicles
are stolen per 100,000 citizens per year, that is much less
than in Hungary - 113, Slovenia - 158 and Bulgaria - 273. A
group of individuals was detected in Belgrade, which in agreement with the offenders, made a contact with the owners of
vehicles stolen and with 6-7.000 DEM reward gave the vehicles back to their owners. International channels for illegal
transfer of stolen cars from Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, through Yugoslavia and Romania as well as
channels through which the stolen vehicles from Serbia were
transferred to Montenegro and Macedonia were detected.
After democratic changes the reform in the structure of
systems of state control was initiated. The reforms of Police
started with dismissing all discredited policemen, changes in
the managerial structures and with modernizing the methods
and techniques of work. But the reforms are at the very beginning. Certainly, one of the reasons for so slow action is the difficult situation inherited, which can be seen in the outdated
equipment, organization and methodology of work, high level
of corruption, connection with organized crime, but as well in
insufficiently articulated political will to have faster changes
and transformations. However, the erosion of credibility of
the Police was halted and the efforts to regain the thrust of citizens into the police are visible. As soon as new authorities
came into power the Administration for suppression of organized crime was formed (UBROK) as a separate unit within the
Interior Minister. Although understaffed, insufficiently
equipped and imperfect in terms of set up, that unit already
recorded respectable results in uncovering several cases of
abduction, as a form of crime, which is on expansion since
the democratic changes.
Parallel with police reform the underground undertook its
reforms. There is new business opening up- abduction of the
wealthy ones and high ransoms, that gained in frequency in
12 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
2001, pointing how attractive this form of crime is for profit
making and the tendency of threatening potential investors
from abroad not to appear, which enables the criminals to
diminish the value of business in Serbia. It gave rise to additional possibilities to the organized crime to make a break
through and penetrate into legal flaws, particularly to
strengthen their influence on the otherwise weak institutions,
particularly the governments.
In Serbia, the connection of politicians with the illicit
operations were established in the Milošević time, the time of
war and international isolations and were transferred to postMilosevic regime, having acquired the dimensions of general
suspicions about cooperation with the criminal circles and
the threat by the criminals. Hence, many readily denote
Serbia as Colombia on the Balkans (Danas, Beograd, 28 - 29
December 2002, III). Thus, in July 2002, the Police Minister,
himself, publicly declared that individual local and foreign
criminal groups were attempting at destabilizing new regime,
even planning assassinations of politicians. Although such an
allegation resembles very much the Milosevic's manipulations
of people by fanning fear, it is true however that the situation
in the security system of the country (police and the military)
is less than credible and that the politicians are to blame
because they did not manage to reform the system
(Anastasijević, Dejan, The State and the Mafia, Vreme, 11
July 2002, 15). According to estimates organized crime
strengthened so much local police will be unable to suppress
it without the help of foreign law enforcement forces, primarily FBI (Glas, Beograd, 29 December 2002, 4; Publika,
Podgorica, 8 January 2003, 7). Those doubts were reinforced
after the attack of a well trained group of professionals who
overnight blew up the machines and premises of a company
for road reconstruction Defense rood headed by Ljubiša
Buha Čume, relative of the assassinated Police general Boško
Buha, the man connected with dirty undertakings (drugs,
cars, arms, etc.) and strong connections with the Serbian
Prime Minister, himself. Otherwise Čume was mentioned in
the public first in connection with the Prime Minister, during
the scandal of assassination of Momir Gavrilović, former
secret policeman of Serbia, who had visited the Cabinet of the
President of FRY before being murdered, to inform the FRY
President of the connections of politicians and criminals. The
scandal had shaken the ruling coalition to the extent of an
open war between the Kostunica's DSS and Djindjić's DS and
other followers within the riling coalition. In the same vein
goes the fact that Čume was on friendly terms with the former
Chief-of-Staff of the Army of Yugoslavia General Nebojsa
Pavkovic (Politica, Beograd, 22 December 2002, A7). The
action against Defense Rood was committed in such a manner that many experts, even the Police Minister, designated it
as a terrorist act. Others stated that Serbia is amidst mafia
war. However, all are in unison that the action showed high
degree of organization of its perpetrators, who, by all means,
were recruited from the ranks of former or current members
of special police units or the military and the war dogs.
In Serbia some 118 criminal clans with about 540 members are at work. Most of them in Belgrade - 13, Sabac - 10,
Požarevac - 9, Niš, Kraljevo and Smederevo - 6,each, Novi
Sad and Subotica - 1 each. 20 criminal groups are involved in
narcotics, with 110 members, car theft and illicit trafficking24 groups-with 95 members, abductions, racketeering, covert
liquidations and robberies -15 groups with 56 members, and
with the organized crime in the economy eight groups and 40
criminals. Other 50 groups with 230 members are active, on
a case-by-case basis, in consumer goods trafficking, financial
fraud and murder (Nedeljni Telegraf, Beograd, 17 July 2002,
2,3). They are not strictly organized, nor strictly disciplined
and loyal. However, on the other hand they have strict delineation of deals and territories. This is more a business enterprise active in the area of violation of law for profit, joined by
the individuals out of their own interest. The organized criminals are operating along the principle of black market and
illicit trading.
Nowadays, most part of organized crime in Serbia is in
drug trafficking, followed by excise goods, particularly cigarettes. The year 2002 was the year of strengthening and also
the return of the international drug traffickers to the Balkan
drug route through Serbia. It was also the year of conflicts
for division of territories and deals. Thus, Serbia was prepared to become over flooded by synthetic drugs and appearance of the leading world Mafia (primarily Russian and
Albanian), along with the police, according to the shared view
of Milan Novaković, deputy head of Criminal police department in the Serbian interior ministry and Marko Nicović,
president of the Board of Directors of the International police
association against narcotics (Blic, Beograd, 31 December
2002 - 2 January 2003, 10).
The best-organized part of the organized crime in Serbia
is tobacco mafia. It is transnational in composition, technically equipped in a perfect way and fitted in the global network. The tobacco mafia has been present in Serbia over a
decade, and Serbia is an interesting region as more than 50%
of the population of age smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day,
while the local tobacco industry was systematically ruined and
undermined. Tobacco mafia has a strong hierarchy reaching
the very top of the state (Milošević and his son), via high state
and police officials to thousands of refugees at the foot of the
pyramid who distributed cigarettes in the street market.
Trafficking in cigarettes, oil and also weapons was organized directly by the authorities. Hence these areas were in the
hands of the so-called Milošević's party, allegedly holding
even now hundreds of millions of dollars. Milošević's son
Marko headed the tobacco business, when some 250 trailers
with smuggled cigarettes were imported into the country per
month. A monthly profit amounted to tens of millions of dollars. The brain of the system was the former head of Secret
police
Jovica Stanišić enjoyed media support of Milorad Vučelić,
in his capacity of the Director of RTS, the central public television station, while security at the frontier was provided by
Mihalj Kertes, the then Director of the Customs administration. Trafficking went via five main channels (Glas, Beograd,
17 July 2002, 5). Numerous evidence is available of the connection of Milosevic and his family with organized crime, particularly cigarette trafficking. However, the new authorities
are also blamed of being insufficiently expedient and persistent in uncovering piracy and trafficking of cigarettes, particularly in the case of revealing and repatriation of earnings in
such transactions back to the country. (de Gorizia, Jessica,
2002, Offensive of Tobacco Mafia, Danas, Beograd, 16 July,
6).
The wars waged in ex Yugoslavia did not affect the partnership and cooperation among the criminals from Serbia,
Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania,
Bulgaria and Turkey. Moreover, while those wars were on
such a cooperation yielded higher profits and strong merger
into the Balkan tobacco mafia, connected even with the
Italian (N'drageta and Sacra Corona Unita) and Russian
mafia. The crucial characteristic of tobacco mafia in Serbia is
that the top bosses are mainly reputable businessmen doing
business legally with the factories otherwise manufacturing
cigarettes. Many of those enjoy in Serbia but in other countries too the reputation of distinguished businessmen close to
the very top echelon of state officials (Croatia, for example).
At the med-level of the organization is local distribution,
while the dealings of mafia are undercover and in the hands
of local gangs. At the lowest, street level, their activities are
completely open, and most of the dealers are temporarily
engaged in it to cope with existential problems oft the
moment. Hence, tobacco mafia is a typical example of a network organization composed of series of smaller or larger
groups that have no mutual contacts.
Serbia, namely FRY is also the main transit route of trafficking in human beings en route from Russia, Ukraine,
Byelorussia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Albania to Hungary,
Italy, Germany, the Netherlands. But, Serbia, namely FRY, is
also the country of destination since the communist time
when Serbia was thought of in the East European countries
as more developed than the rest of communist countries. The
additional space for prostitution was created by war and deep
crises, plus massive presence of foreign soldiers, policemen
and international bureaucrats of various ranks. Numerous
nightclubs and bordellos testify to the "flourishing" business
near Bondstill, close to Urosevac and Casablanca in the neighborhood of Suva Reka, in Kosovo. An import fact is that state
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 13
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
authorities, including Police and Judiciary have taken no serious action prior to 2002 for suppression of illegal migrations
and prostitution. Over ten years of Milošević's rule and the
international isolation the Police of FRY has been pushed to
the margin, even excluded from Interpol. Thanks to that the
route was safe for the criminals, particularly so if they managed to cooperate with the local criminals, policemen and
politicians. The local authorities on their part were tolerant
or supportive, while some of them were directly involved in
the arrangements for illegal migration and even trade in
human beings. The implication of the authorities is clearly
testified to by encouragement of illegal migration for material gain by means of tourist and student entry visas issued to
the Chinese for Serbia, who then pursued business, most
often trade in FRY, or embarked on the road to EU countries.
The basic motive for the politicians and state officers to get
involved in this sort of dealings was money, while corruption
was the instrument for the entry.
The response to this phenomenon was mostly nonexistent
or in the form racist outbreaks against the Chinese. Very few
NGOs, primarily the Forum, attempted at changing the attitude of the public; thus, the Forum encouraged the establishment of the Association of Serbian - Chinese cooperation,
whose members are distinguished politicians and scholars for
China and Serbia, among them the former Foreign Minister
and Ambassador in China, etc. However, for the time being,
there are no serious indicators of any change on the part of
the authorities or public towards this problem, apart from a
more rigorous border control introduced and the direct airline Belgrade-Beijing, maintained by the national company
JAT, curiously cancelled. In response to the absence of more
serious strategy for the control of migration and non-readiness of the public to open Serbian society and market to other
races, the Forum issued on 12 July 2002, a Statement on the
status of Chinese Citizens and Firms, pointing to the following: "As a result of intensified economic and diplomatic cooperation between FRY and
China, several thousand of citizens of China have come to
our country of lately. An overwhelming majority of Chinese
citizens have come for business purposes, above all trade, and
for a segment of them our country is one of stations on their
way to other countries of our Region and European Union.
Instead of being participants in economic and social life in
our country with full civil rights Chinese citizens are forced by
acts or failure to act of individual authorities to illegal residence, conduct of business and behavior. Chinese citizens fall
prey to various questionable go-betweens, legal protectors
and racketing. In that way illegal economy and criminalisation
of our society are additionally increased.
14 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
The Forum was drawing attention to the following major
omissions of government:
First, provisions of the federal law on foreign investments
and conclusions of the Intergovernmental committee for foreign trade and economic relations of the PR of China and
FRY, which was established as far back as in 1996, are not
applied consistently and are often directly violated. There has
been to the present day no public document on the establishment and work of the mentioned Committee. In practice, the
status of Chinese legal and natural persons was based in the
process of investment or conduct of business, without written
and public documents, on verbal orders of "powerful persons" of the former regime. It is disturbing that new government also adheres to such rules. The rules that are applicable
in practice only to Chinese legal and natural persons but not
to other foreigners and firms are as follows:
- For establishment of own, joint and trade firms, with
majority Chinese investment, an approval of the Ministry for
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation is needed individually for each Chinese legal and natural person,
- The approval of the Ministry is necessary for filing
change of the seat of a firm, increase in investment, change of
directors, change of founders.
These rules make Chinese firms and citizens directly
dependent on decisions of the federal administration.
Indisputable discrimination of Chinese citizens is at issue.
There are reasonable doubts that uncertain and insecure status of Chinese citizens that live and work in our country is a
source of illegal acquisition of financial and other gain for
representatives of government from the federal to local levels.
It has not come to the knowledge of the public that criminal
or any other charges have been brought so far against anybody for these!
Second, the stay of Chinese citizens in our country is
mainly regulated under the regime of tourist visas and various
study stays. This makes the situation of Chinese citizens during their stay in our country insecure and every business activity illegal. In that way, our country made it impossible for
itself to fulfill its obligations deriving from many international instruments and bilateral agreements, including the obligation that it undertook to inform the government of the PR of
China regularly of the number of Chinese citizens residing in
our country. Nothing has been changed in the past few
months, either.
Third, an opportunity was missed to regulate by the federal law minority rights of citizens holding regular residence
in our country. Existing international standards for that matter were ignored in that way. Likewise, there is no public trace
of serious efforts of the Federal Ministry for Minorities and
other responsible departments to devise and pursue a policy
World in the shadow
of mafia
PE
EURO
N
R
E
EAST
Drugs, money laundering,
racketeering, prostitution
RUSSIA
According to estimates three
mil people involved
BULGARIA
Heroin
ROMANIA
Center area for drug
smuggling
CZECH REPUBLIC
Tourist attacks
POLAND
MBIA
COLU
World's second country in
amphetamine production
narco cartels,
money laundering
TATES
S
D
E
T
UNI
Sacra corona unita
ITALY
ERICA
OF AM
Camorra
100 "clans"
drug trafficking, cigarettes
smuggling, racketeering
Centres
25 " Families", 15 in New York
3000 " solders"
Drug trafficking, gambling, prostitution,
public services (transport, construction)
Mafia
140 " clans", 3 500 members drug trafficking,
racketeering
of stamping out racism and encouraging opening of our country. There are even no examples of appropriate reactions on
the part of authorities to numerous cases of racist violence
against the Chinese in our country. For that reason, we are
suggesting both to competent authorities and representatives
of OSCE, the Council of Europe and the UN acting in our
country to analyze this occurrence and to prepare appropriate measures or recommendations for application of international standards to the status of foreign, i.e. Chinese citizens
staying in our country.
We are specially recommending to the public and government to take the following measures:
- To set up, at the federal level, before it comes to an end,
a government committee that would examine the situation in
the field, work and results of responsible members of the
Government and civil servants, especially abuses committed
both by members of former and present federal administration, and to inform the Federal Assembly and the public of its
findings,
- To get the Government of the Republic of Serbia actively involved, with a view to protecting interests of Serbia, in
tackling these problems, prepare measures of necessary and
all-comprehensive review of legal standards relating to stay,
work permits and conduct of business of foreign citizens,
- To establish, at the level of the Republic, efficient minority legislation that will make it possible for citizens - persons
(" the forth mafia")
weapon smuggling,
drug trafficking, cigarettes
smuggling
belonging to minorities that have regular
residence in Serbia but do not have the
citizenship to found their own educational (from kindergartens to schools)
and cultural institutions and newspapers
that would be financed by persons
belonging to the minority community
concerned, their parent states, and in
part out of the funds collected from these
citizens into the budget of the Republic
of Serbia through taxes, customs duties
and other instruments".
Western Balkans, and FRY likewise,
is the center of white slave trafficking,
heading for EU. According to some estimates between 10,000 and 100,000
women and children are victims of trading across the border of Serbia, namely
FRY. Belgrade is an import transit, but
the market, as well. Belgrade abounds in
N'drageta
various brothels where numberless staff
is engaged in prostitution. Informally,
140 " clans"
drug trafficking,
Belgrade is notorious as being the center
racketeering
and cross roads of international roads
for trafficking in women, most frequently for sex trafficking purposes. Next to Belgrade there are several regional centers for trafficking in human beings and prostitution. These are: Požarevac, Šabac, Novi Pazar, Kraljevo,
Novi Sad, Kragujevac. Particularly developed regional market
in Sandžak, namely the area around Novi Pazar, where predominant labor force are women from Eastern Europe. That
region has the role of a peculiar cross roads between Serbia,
Kosovo, Montenegro and BiH.
According to the data of the International Office of
Migrations (IOM), between September 2001 and September
2000, 107 women of whom 12 from Serbia and 95 of
Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and somewhat less from Russia
were located. All of them were in the age group 20 to 25, and
only one of them accepted to testify in the process that was
closed with a fine and suspended prison sentence in the duration of a couple of months for the defendant (Blic, Beograd,
4 December 2002, 7). In a discussion held in OSCE, Head of
Serbian Police, Mihajlović, mentioned that in the first four
months of the year 2002 2,000 women were deported, citizens of East European countries from Serbia, that 41 criminal
petitions were filed against the owners of nightclubs and traffickers, plus fifteen criminal reports for mediation in prostitution. Interestingly, the former employees of the state security of Serbia are among the owners of brothels (Tašić, Vesna;
Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trading in human beings, Reporter,
Beograd, 31 October, No 184, 12). So the sources named
"Pera the prostitute» former head of Police Department of
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 15
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
Belgrade, as one of the big bosses in the chain of trade in
human beings along the route through Belgrade (Bjelica
Jelena, 2002, Trading in human beings, SDC, Beograd, 18).
In the course of the year 2002, Serbian police cut off four
channels of organized trade in white slaves coming from
Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova, while 26 foreigners were located, among whom three minors and four citizens
of FRY (Blic, Beograd, 13 December 2002, 11).
In April 2002 the National team of FRY for suppression
of trade in human beings was established that should work in
four tasks forces as follows: prevention, assistance and support to victims, new legislative framework and research. At
the moment a change of legal regulations has a priority, particularly because unlike the Yugoslav laws, the international
documents treat the consent of a victim as irrelevant in trafficking in human beings. However, even today more than one
big trafficker is active in the suburbs of Belgrade who are connected with pimps and owners of brothels who on average
offer around 15 women for further resale.
Actual number of bought or sold women in Montenegro
is unknown, but in all probability it is enormous. Since there
is no single Article in the Penal Code of Montenegro sanctioning the trade in human beings, there is no information on
court cases against traffickers in human beings. According to
the official data, 134 foreign citizens were expelled from
Montenegro in 1999 only; in the year 2000, because of prostitution 93 foreigners were captured in attempts to illegally
cross the border.
Montenegro is primarily the country of destination or
transit to Italy, Croatia, and Albania. One of the channels of
human trafficking goes from Montenegro across the Lake of
Skadar to Albania. Often with the help of policemen the girls
are transferred through illegal routes or aboard the ships to
Albania. From there, further to Greece Macedonia, Kosovo
(Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trafficking in human beings, SDC,
Beograd, 122, 23). But, Montenegro is the country of origin,
as proven in early 2002, when the newspapers in Montenegro
published that 18 Montenegrin girls were located in Albania,
engaged in prostitution.
In late 2002 a veritable sex scandal escalated in
Montenegro. Namely, on the occasion of release of one
Moldavian girl from a brothel (night club) in Podgorica, the
Deputy public Prosecutor of Montenegro was apprehended
(Zoran Piperović) among others on suspicion of being implicated in sex trafficking. Piperović, according to the testimony
of the Moldavian girl has taken her over from one shelter in
Belgrade, and her services were used by numerous public personalities. With such suspects the Police found a number of
videocassettes, on cruelties inflicted on the girls, coerced to
prostitution. The assumption that those videocassettes were
16 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
used for blackmailing the politicians and other public figures
that used "services" of such girls (Blic, Beograd, 4 December
2002, 7). The Moldavian victim was accommodated in NGO
Safe house managed by Ljiljana Raičević. While a part of the
public and NGO insisted that the Deputy Public Prosecutor
was responsible, but Public Prosecutor himself, with the mention of some politicians on the top, namely people around
Djukonović, the lawyers of the individuals charged are trying
to mitigate the scandal claiming that is was construed on the
political grounds (Politika, Beograd, 11 December 2002,
A11). Wider aspects of the political abuse of this scandal were
already touched in the Report.
Heroin arrives to Serbia from Turkey-Istanbul, namely
Iran and Pakistan. On its way through Serbia the important
points are Leskovac, along the frontier with Macedonia, Pirot
near the frontier with Bulgaria, Jagodina in central Serbia,
and along the high way to central and western Europe, whose
dealers have excellent connection with guest workers in
Austria and Switzerland. An important market en route is
Niš, a regional industrial and administrative center. Another
way through Serbia also goes from Istanbul to Novi Pazar,
Sandžak, where it ramifies to Belgrade, via Kraljevo and to
BiH, thanks to historical, cultural and family-ethnic (Bosniak)
links to Sarajevo. Otherwise, the channel of marihuana reaches Novi Pazar from Albania, and via Sandzak region in
Montenegro, where important points are Bjelo Polje and
Berane, but also via Kosovo. One of the advantages of Novi
Pazar is its leading place in the legal and illicit road transport
maintenance, as well as long-standing trafficking with
Kosovo, Macedonia, Turkey and BiH. Many families of Novi
Pazar are organized in a similar way like the Albanian and use
their relatives in Turkey and Western Europe. Belgrade is an
important cross roads and market where five to six criminal
gangs are active. There are estimated 30,000 drug addicts,
and in the whole Serbia and Montenegro, around 100,000
addicts mostly heroin addicts. As an average price of a gram
of heroin is 50 EUR, which is sufficient to a drug addict for
three days, it is estimated that the Yugoslav drug market is
worth at least half a billion EUR a year. In Novi Sad,
Vojvodina, groups from Montenegro and BiH are predominant. Cities along the border with BiH and Croatia, such as
Sremska Mitrovica, Ruma and Šabac, make a specific whole,
sub network of criminal groups (Blic, Beograd, 31 December
2002 - 2 January 2003, 10). During 2002 in Serbia, there
were seven or eight major assassinations due to drug trafficking, characteristic for being commission to the hired
killers from Montenegro, BiH, Croatia, Check Republic and
Romania, who fled across the border when mission completed. It is supposed that the criminals from Serbia return the
"favors' in the territory of those countries.
Among the new forms of transnational organized crime,
the activities threatening to get deeply rooted, by volume and
threat to society are: computer (electronic, cyber, Internet)
crime, ecological mafia - trafficking in nuclear and toxic
waste, illegal trafficking of rare animal species, sale of old and
unhealthy technologies, illegal human trafficking, especially
women and children for the purpose of prostitution and children for adoption and prostitution, trafficking in immigrants
from the third world countries, trafficking in human organs,
trafficking with medicines not properly checked and analyzed, stealing and trafficking in pieces of art, antiquities and
cultural heritage. Of course, central to the fight against
transnational organized crime must be: production and trafficking of narcotics and other illegal drugs, trafficking in
weapons - especially modern means for mass destruction as
biological, chemical and nuclear row materials and weapons,
financial crime - money laundering/recycling, credit cards and
checks misuse and frauds, pyramidal global schemes via
Internet, terrorism connected with fundamentalism, forgery,
omnipresent corruption.
The fifth extraordinary session of the Serbian Parliament
in July 2002 was devoted to the struggle against organized
crime, when a set of five judicial laws were discussed and
enacted (The Law on High Judiciary Council, Public
Prosecutor's, Territorial and regional court jurisdictions, on
Judges and Court organization). A new criminal offence was
introduced - bringing to justice the individuals who fail to
assist, support or submit data to special authorities in the
process of investigation of offences and perpetrators). Also,
the then State Security Agency was reorganized and renamed
into Security Information Agency that was separated from the
Interior Ministry and directly linked to the Government of
Serbia. That Law provided, inter alia, the establishment of
special prosecutor's headed by a special prosecutor and separate units for organized crime suppression with the Serbian
Interior Ministry, to cooperate with the special units and
recruit the so called investigators under cover and establishment of separate department for criminal offences, in organized crime with the District court in Belgrade. A special
detention unit was established (Politika, Beograd, 11 July
2002, A; Politika, Beograd, 15 July 2002, A7; Blic, Beograd,
2 July, 2002, 9). The Government and the Parliament of
Serbia have undertaken those activities after many signs of
extreme growth of organized crime including the assassination of Police general Boško Buha. That is why it may be taken
as a point of declaration of war by the Belgrade authorities to
organized crime, and a start in the institution building for
combating crime. (Bujošević, Dragan, 2002, Confronting
Mafia with a Piece of Legislation, NIN, Beograd, 4 July, 14).
However, by the end of 2002 neither special prosecutor was
elected, or the building to house the special prosecutor's provided, said Rade Terzić, the District public prosecutor in
Belgrade (Nedeljni Telegraf, Beograd, 25 December 2002, 8).
The number of policemen engaged in that sort of activity is
quite small and their training evidently insufficient. Hence, a
special attention will have to be paid to the police training.
One of the biggest shortages is the technical policing equipment, but corruption in the police is high. Also, suspicion by
experts in the validity of new legal solutions is justified, due
to the lack of their harmonization with the rest of legislation.
That is why the implementation of new framework is difficult,
opening up space for legal vacuum to be resorted to by the
organized crime to go unpunished. (Bjeljanski,Slobodan,
2002, Intervention only after accident, Danas, Beograd, 16
July, 6; Vasić, Miloš, 2002, Special prosecutors', Vreme,
Beograd, 11 July, 19 - 22). In fact, it may be said that the
organized crime and criminals continue to be one of the main
threats to the political stability in Serbia. Lack of transparency is a contributing factor. Namely, access to information is
rendered difficult, even to statistics on crime incidence, by the
police, judiciary, prosecutor's, but by other state authorities,
alike. The journalists covering organized crime, but politicians, too, who advocate its suppression, particularly at the
local level, such as for example the Chairman of the
Municipal Assembly of Loznica, are exposed to threats and
even murders. This is an intimidating public expression about
the organized crime. However, the first, relatively significant
results were achieved. Compared to 3,867 stolen cars in the
first six months of 2001, in the first six months of 2002 the
number dropped to 2,331. Four groups were arrested,
involved in forgery of EUR in the regionsof Čačak,
Smederevo, Belgrade and Jagodina.
According to estimates, in the course of the year 2002, 50
% of cigarettes on the market originated from the legal channels while 50% from illegal manufacturing in the country
itself (Blic, Beograd, 20 July 2002, 2). However, strong bonds
still exist between this type of crime and the politicians. There
are public speculations about direct connections of the Prime
Minister himself with crime "Bosses" in those deals (for
instance Stanko Subotić - Cane, who is the Prime Minister's
friend and the chief dealer of BAT), as well as individual members of the Cabinet (like Vice premier Velja Ilić), who entered
the deal after they had come into power. Naturally, it was
unrealistic to expect that cigarette smuggling would be eliminated quickly, as this is one of the most lucrative deals, which
at the time of EU and UN sanctions was encouraged both by
the regime and, multinational companies. These illicit deals
funded partly both the ruling and individual opposition politicians and parties. The nature of the coup d'etat of 5th
October 2000, should also be taken into account, which next
to deposition of Milosevic involved putsch and that means
collaboration with parts of organized crime or parts of the
state structure that was connected to it.
Thus, many years, much effort and changing governments
will be needed before cigarette trafficking and other illicit
transactions could be aligned into the flows normal in the
developed economies and democracies. However, the impor-
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 17
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
tant development is that the new regime in Belgrade fitted
into the common European efforts to identify the forgers and
combat cigarette trafficking. However, there are open doubts
that this attempt nevertheless favored individual illegal activities. An often-quoted example is the Decree of the government of the Republic of Serbia on a special tax equalizing the
tax burden for goods in transit, Official Herald of RS, no
13/2001. The Decree stipulated a special tax in the amount of
150,000 dinars or 2,500 EUR per tank, namely trailer on cigarettes and oil derivatives transported from Kosovo via
Serbia, instead of customs duty. A similar Decree was enacted on the goods in transit. Since such goods bear no excise
stickers, but still appeared on the market, rumors go that the
Government itself created opportunity to the individuals
close to the government to proceed with trafficking in human
beings. The way it is done is to transfer the goods from
Serbia, either in physical or paper form,to Kosovo, mostly to
its northern part, controlled by the Serbs, only to be immediately returned to Serbia without payment of customs duty,
much higher in amount than the tax itself (Čavoški, Kosta,
2002, Legalized cigarette trafficking, Glas, Beograd, 3
September 2001). Some employees of the republic government lay the blame on the Finance minister of deliberate facilitation of illicit trade of goods in transit, because he opposed
satellite tracking of tanks and trailers carrying excise goods.
Additional polemic around the sincerity of the Governments
was caused by the fact that the cigarettes that were seized
were not burnt but appeared on the market through the
favored firm Atos Trade, allegedly enjoying the protection of
the Justice Minister (Blic, Beograd, 20 July, 2002, 2). The
Serbian public is pointing out that the struggle against organized crime, particularly cigarette trafficking is almost impossible, because the very multinationals developed double standard: on the one hand they support forgery and smuggling of
cigarettes to make extra profit and preserve the market namely the habit of smokers to their brands, even in the conditions
of war and international isolation, like those in ex Yugoslavia.
On the other hand they participate in the struggle against
these phenomena, but primarily by combating competitors
and strengthening their own presence in the market. (Glas,
Beograd, 6 - 7 January 2003, 6). Further to the above it may
be inferred that the struggle against cigarette trafficking and
organized crime in Serbia is at the very initial stage, and that
is will progress in parallel with the legalization of transactions
in Serbia, However, success is directly conditioned on the
regional and international cooperation, since tobacco industry is a state monopoly and manufacturing of cigarettes under
the control of multinational companies, of which Philip
Morris and BAT are confronted with particular fervor on the
markets of Serbia and FRY.
The difficulties involved in combating cigarette piracy and
trafficking in FRY, namely Serbia and Montenegro, are illustrated by the fact that the officials of the former Federal and
18 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
Montenegrin governments are implicated in such trafficking
together with the American company RJ Reynolds. In the past
decade the representatives of this company have managed,
run and controlled piracy and trafficking in cigarettes but
were involved in organized crime, primarily money laundry
from illicit drug trafficking and other offences, as stated in the
indictment of EU against that company. Reynolds transferred
large quantities of cigarettes via the Balkans, namely
Montenegro, to EU. The government of Montenegro and its
then Prime Minister Djukanovic insisted to do business via
state forwarding company Zeta Trans, which collected 30$
per crate of cigarettes in transit through Montenegro. Out of
that money one part was paid into the government budget.
(Blic, Beograd, 4 December 2002, 7). On this example it
could be concluded that the regime availed itself of mafia for
the benefit of the state, where the individuals accumulated
wealth for themselves. Unlike Montenegro, in Serbia it was
mafia that abused the state. That company, according to the
statement of the Serbian government Vice Premier, Nebojša
Čović, was taken over in 1999, by Japan Tobacco
International, which took over the same managers and continued the same business in the territory of FRY, primarily in
Kosovo and Serbia.
Among priorities in the promotion of the struggle
against organized crime in Serbia and Montenegro are:
- An adequate legal framework to be created for a decisive
action against groups, individual and particularly state officials implicated in criminal activities. Of particular importance is to create conditions of seizure of funds and profits
acquired, victim and witness protection schemes, suppression
of corruption, police oversight and an independent judiciary.
- Capacity building for prevention, investigation and persecution of criminal activities, including additional assets for
the operation of police and other agencies involved in law
enforcement with the stress on the responsibility of courts in
case of organized crime. It will be necessary to establish in
Serbia new Council for suppression of corruption, and to
improve the operations, training and equipment of the
Directorate for suppression of organized crime and
Investigation unit with the Ministry of finance of Serbia. Also,
a thought should be given to establishing a separate
Committee for suppression of organized financial crime
- Harmonization of national standards in the field of judiciary and internal affairs with the international standards.
- Training system for policemen in Serbia need to be
reformed, while the Polic Academy should introduce the subject of human rights, and special subjects on terrorism and
organized crime.
- Structuring of integrated strategy for suppression of
entry and exit of criminals, illicit goods, from the territory of
Serbia, particularly structuring of integrated border management strategy for Serbia and Montenegro, common base of
criminality data, common customs program as well as common strategy for narcotics.
- More active integration into the regional cooperation
including the signing of European convention of mutual assistance in criminal matters, integration in the regional network
of prosecutors, specialized police officers and liaison officers,
establishment of central focal point for mutual recognition of
court decisions between regional partners; joint operations in
law enforcement and joint training.
Organized crime has been operating in Kosovo for many
years. It took advantage of the chaotic situation in 1999 and
2000 to expand its operations. Today it may be said with certainty that organized crime there has become highly profitable and well-organized business, involving numerous criminals, corruption and many ethnicities (Albanians, Serbs and
others) and international officials, which provides a living to
many Albanian families, as the only source of income.
Criminal enterprises create wealth for criminals and provide
capital to be invested in other forms of crime, whether it is the
smuggling of drugs or weapons or the trafficking of young
women for prostitution (Chappell, Derek and Fletcher Barry,
Organized crime or organized business, Focus Kosovo,
Pristine, June 2002, 16).
Although there is no Big Boss or a central authority, the
criminals are extremely well organized and relatively well
protected by widely respected "oath" of silence. It is favored
by the remnant of the traditional revenge or vendetta Indeed,
in the Balkans, including Kosovo; organized crime consists of
a network of independent operators who collaborate to make
money through illegal means. There are operators who are
"bigger" than others and many of them are capable of violence. They also co-operate across borders and between ethnicities (Chappell, Derek and Fletcher Barry, Organized
crime or rinsed business, Focus Kosovo, Prishtin, June2002,
16).
All the forms of organized crime are present at Kosovo
but the most visible so far are prostitution, but the clients, too. 104 night bars
were registered with prostitution under
coercion. According to the reports of the
local IOM office the girls are from
Moldavia, Romania, Ukraine. Bulgaria,
Russia. IOM itself helped 254 victims of
the victims of trade in human beings in
Kosovo between February 2000 and
December 2002. Most of them were
saved in the roundups of the Special
police investigation unit for trafficking in
human beings and prostitution (TPIU). It
turned out that even 10% of the girls
were kidnapped. Since the forceful prostitution, which is connected to corruption, is a big problem
for security and rule of law in Kosovo, UNMIK passed a
decree at the beginning of January 2001, prohibiting any
trade in human beings. According to those provisions the
individuals who are aware that a person is a victim of trade in
human beings and uses the services offered shall be punishable. The sentences for macros and others in the chain of
trade range from 5 to 15 years of imprisonment (Bjelica,
Jelena, 2002, Trafficing in human beings, SDC, Beograd, 24,
25).
A factory manufacturing pirated cigarettes near Gnjilane
was discovered in summer 2002. On that occasion the inspectors found numerous data on extremely well organized criminal operation of manufacturing and distributing cigarettes,
functioning for years, among whom the world renowned
brand like Malboro and Regal (Chappell, Derek and Fletcher
Barry, 2002, Organized crime or organized business, Focus
Kosovo, Prishtin, June, 16). Otherwise, Kosovo is one of the
biggest regional centers for cigarette piracy and transfer
region for smuggled cigarettes.
As far as oil and oil derivatives are concerned, for decades
now it has been one of the most lucrative jobs and the best
way for money laundry. It is, naturally, most closely bound to
local authorities, to any influential Albanian political parties
and leaders, but gaining support of the international bureaucrats, military and the Police through corruption.
Racket covers almost any area of profitable trade as well
as other services, and are collected by local criminal groups
headed by brutal leaders. Murder threat is a part of racketeering, and easy to do because of many pieces of weapons of
any type illegally possessed by the citizens. This is proven by
widely spread arm trafficking with and through Kosovo.
Drug smuggling is also one of the leading business of
organized crime in Kosovo, while the Albanian mafia is notorious for drug trafficking Europe and US wide, followed by
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 19
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
laundering so earned money in house building and repair
activity. In Kosovo, like in Albania, many fields are under
marihuana. It is distributed in Kosovo itself, but to
Macedonia, Albania, as well Montenegro and Serbia and via
them further to Europe.
The organized crime is deeply rooted in the Kosovo society, and politically it is extremely well covered, because it is
hidden behind the Albanian nationalist movement, which has
been financed, particularly in the stages of armed by the
organized crime. That is why it is going to be very difficult
and time-consuming to reduce it to the limits, which shall not
endanger peace, stability and development of Kosovo and
narrower region, primarily southern Serbia, Western
Macedonia and northern Albania. On the other hand the
future of Kosovo will depend on the establishment of the
economy that will create new jobs and that requires foreign
investment. However, with a well-developed underground
black market, without protection for genuine business, without guarantee for brands or products, and in which legitimate
business has to compete with criminal enterprises will not
attract that essential investment (Chappell, Derek and
Fletcher Barry, 2002, Organized crime or organized business, Focus Kosovo, Prishtin, June, 16).
The international authorities and temporary self-governance bodies in Kosovo are confronted with difficult and
numerous tasks in the struggle against organized crime. But,
the following priorities could be suggested:
- Continued legislative activity and capacity building capable of confronting the organized crime. The solutions should
be harmonized with the international standards but also with
the solutions accepted in the neighboring counties, especially
in Serbia.
- Training and equipment of police forces and particularly
of special police for prevention, uncovering and persecution
of criminals in the network of organized crime.
- Upgrading the readiness of prosecutor's and courts to
prosecute and process the organized crime activities.
- Media, political, educational and military/policing campaigns for disarmament of citizens of Kosovo as well as training and cancellation of the remnants of vendetta.
- Curricula on human rights, rule of law, dangers of terrorism and its connection with violence in daily life and terrorism should be included in the training systems for young
people, policemen, youth leaders. NGOs, young journalists
policemen, diplomats and others.
UNMIK or SBUN should mediate in opening the dialogue
and joint action of Belgrade and Pristina, with priority
assigned to the following activities:
- Harmonization of legal, customs, security and other stan-
20 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
dards to achieve freedom of movements (for instance with the
Serbian and Kosovo registration marks around Kosovo and
Serbia, issue and mutual recognition of identity and other
documents, harmonization of customs tariffs and policies,
etc.).
- Expansions of cooperation among courts, prosecutors,
police and military against organized crime, including
exchange of information, common training, etc.
- Media cooperation on exchange of news, joint actions.
Particularly in research journalism and common training for
coverage of organized crime.
In May 2002 in Pristina the Stability Pact organized
regional conference on cigarette trafficking when the
Prishtina Declaration was adopted, which outlined specific
actions to combat smuggling, including: developing a common approach on packaging; greater co-ordination in efforts
to regulate imports; a common approach to improving customs and tax efforts and transit within the region; greater use
of information technology at borders and boundaries; efforts
to harmonize excise rates according to EU standards and
addressing the regulation of the direct supply of cigarettes to
importing countries. These actions will be part of a systematic program over the next year to build sustained and comprehensive regional and bilateral co-operation in the area of cigarette smuggling (Chappell, Derek and Fletcher Barry, June
2002, Organized crime or business, Focus Kosovo, Prishtin,
16).
Given the organized crime is a regional problem and enormous potential profits on which it operates, the corruption of
legitimate authorities is involved, be it border or Customs
officials or poorly paid local police, along with threat, fear
and intimidation. Therefore, finance ministers and customs
directors across the region are invited to define a strategy for
combating trafficking (Chappell, Derek and Fletcher Barry,
June 2002, Organized crime or rinsed business, Focus
Kosovo, Prishtin, 16).
(2) Organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Organized crime in BiH, after the Dayton Treaties, is a
continuum of the criminal behavior, but adapted to new circumstances and possibilities. The war in BiH was specific in
the following terms:
- Great number of criminals, many with the "international
reputation "got the chance of uncontrolled looting and accumulation of wealth.
- The division of the territories of BiH in three parts followed by economic and other blockades, starvation, huge military requirements, and lawlessness that ensued were "most
welcome" to "boost" organized crime and the so called "legal
England, Denmark,
Netherlands
state trafficking";
- Evident bonding of "expertise" and
"implementation capabilities" of the
criminals with any type of power of the
war regime, including the top military,
civil and political officials. It provided an
umbrella for free dealings in any type of
criminal activity while war profiteers
grew to the extent of tight ties among
criminal groups, which had their protectors in the then state, military and political authorities and their accomplices.
Afghanistan
Libya
Hungary
Peru, Bolivia and
Columbia
Romania
Belgrade
Podgorica
Great abuse of national feelings and
religious affiliation facilitated violence
and crime committed by the members of
"my nation" justified as necessarily as the
act of those who "got out of control".
That was a significant determinant for
the conduct of the authorities in their struggle against the
organized crime. The acts committed by the individuals and
the groups belonging to "another nation" were in the forefront, including the cases of a priori incrimination of "another nation." Simultaneously, there lacked any decisiveness in
resolving the actions of the organized crime among the
adherents of "my nation", and if measures were taken to bring
to order the responsible, the resolution of such cases was
postponed the cases dismissed and the pronounced sentences
lenient.
Bar
Drug routes to Yugoslavia
During the war and in the initial years of its aftermath,
three entirely separate legal systems were established in BiH.
The legal norm for a criminal activity and criminal proceedings, including the organized international crime, is completely under the competence of the entities without any serious part to be played by the central authorities. Consequently,
the institutions for prevention, discovery and persecution of
perpetrator of the acts of organized crime are in existence in
entities only. All the way through to the early 2000, when the
State borders police in BiH was established, the activities of
the authorities against the organized crime were in the competence of entity bodies only, where inter-ethnic cooperation
was poor or nonexistent. This resulted in poor effects of the
struggle against organized crime, particularly because the
perpetrators never took the entity line as a limit for their criminal activities nor has it constituted a hindrance to their mutual cooperation All of them had their "own" check points at the
state borders. It entailed evasion of customs and tax obligations and thus great loss for the state budget.
The most frequent form of organized crime in BiH is illegal migration, illegal transfer of foreign citizens across the territory of BiH to the countries of Western Europe, trade in
human beings and mediation in prostitution, abductions,
Bulgaria
Albania
unauthorized manufacturing, import and marketing of narcotics, illicit trade of arms and explosive ordnances, international car trafficking, money laundering and the similar.
BiH is a country of destination, transit but also origin of
trade in human beings. Center of the trade in human beings
for both BiH and the region are the open markets Arizona
near Brčko and Virdžinija near Kalesija (Tuzla canton), the
area between Bihac and Bosanski Petrovac or the nightclub
Black Spider between Bihać and Bosanski Petrovac or the
night-club Black Spider in Orašje. Several criminal groups are
involved in this business.
According to the data of entity authorities of internal
affairs, UN Mission in BiH and State border service of BiH,
more than 40,000 foreigners in the year 2002 illegally
crossed the state border of BiH. These individuals are mainly
originating from the countries of "high migration risk" (some
50% were the citizens of Iran, while the others came from
Turkey Iraq, Tunisia, China, etc.). The main route of their
movement was Istanbul - Sarajevo - Bihać and further on.
After the decision of the Council of ministers of Bosnia and
Herzegovina on the new visa regime for the citizens of Iran in
2001 the number of entries to BiH dramatically dropped (by
over 40 time). This year, the highest number of entries to BiH
was from Turkey (some 87% of all entries). In this case that
number was considerably reduced compared to the year 2000
(by about 40%). The reduction is the result of tightened control measures by the State border police of BiH. The BiH
authorities accepted more than 2000 persons in the year
2001 only, which illegally crossed to Croatia from BiH and
rejected over 11,000 entries of foreigners into BiH. However,
prevention of illegal crossings of the state border of BiH is
faced with a series of problems, among them the fact that the
state border police does not yet control the whole state bor-
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 21
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
der, that it is not adequately equipped, that there are no centers for sheltering illegal migrants.
In 2001 only, there were more than 700 attempts of smuggling human beings across the state border for sex trafficking.
The real number of women in the chain of trafficking in
human beings for prostitution is unknown. However, by
December 2001 IOM helped 440 women of whom 370 were
sent back home. It is assumed that in BiH Federation only
there are about 30 nightclubs with the cases of prostitution.
A dozen of them are in existence in Republika Srpska (Tašić,
Vesna; Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings,
Reporter, Beograd, 31 October, No 184, 17). Thus, in March
2001, when a joint action of the police of both entities, under
the title "Pimp" was carried out during one night when a raid
of 39 night-clubs discovered 177 women. The victims, as a
rule have to surrender the documents, being forced to prostitution and re-sold later on. Between July 2001 and June 2002,
84 cases were filed in BiH against the owners of clubs and
brothels. There are enormous problems with the determination of criminal liability for such criminal offences: the victims
most often keep silent and do not want to testify in case of
prostitution, while foreign citizens, who are either victims or
witnesses against the traders in human beings, are expelled
and cannot testify, and their statement is the only possibility
to establish liability of such criminals.
As to legislation, the Penal Code of Republika Srpska of
the year 2000 provides for punishment for trade in human
beings for prostitution. The sentences range from 6 months to
5 years, and if the victims were minors, from one to 12 years.
In BiH Federation, at the end of 2002 the Bill was drafted
along the lines of the one promulgated in Republika Srpska.
STOP is a special police unit of the International police
(IPTF), with 200 policemen, assigned with the task to combat
trade in human beings. This unit was established in 2001. In
cooperation with STOP, the raids are performed by local
police units trained for special actions (Strike forces).
The international governmental organizations and NGOs
dealing with the problem in BiH are IOM, La Strada of
Mostar, Lara of Bjeljina and other members of the group Ring
(Bjelica Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings, SDC, Beograd,
39, 40). There are four shelters for the victims of trade in
human beings (one in Mostar, one in Bjeljina and two in
Sarajevo).
Drug trafficking is another major problem for BiH. The
dimensions of that crime is illustrated by the fact that in one
case only in October 2000, in Banja Luka, a truck load of
ceramic vases originating from Panama carried 114 kg of
heroin and cocaine, with the then market value of about 300
million DEM. Worthwhile is the data that the case was uncov-
22 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
ered in October 2000, but has not yet been processed in the
court. There is reasonable doubt that this criminal offence
implicated the individuals who are located in state authorities. In the course of 2001, the State border police of BiH discovered more than 120 kg of drugs and opiates and several
hundreds of plants and seeds for narcotic crops.
The media in BiH often report that some of the political
parties, in power for almost 10 years now, are financed from
the proceeds of drug trafficking and other sources of organized crime.
The illicit trade in commodities is also widespread, actually import/export of the so-called excise good, more frequently smuggled strong drinks and cigarettes. Also, the State
border police of BiH seized only in 2001 156 motor vehicles,
dozens of fire arms and cold arms, mines, hand grenades and
several thousand pieces of ammunitions, and over 300
forged/abused documents.
The problem of illicit possession of arms and trafficking in
weapons in large quantities in BiH acquired threatening
dimensions and characteristics. So far more than one illicit
warehouse were discovered. Large quantities of the so-called
heavy weapons are at stake (machine guns, guns, launchers,
howitzers, even tanks). Three illegal warehouses discovered
in summer 2002, in Tobacco factory in Mostar, illustrate the
danger of such a form of criminal activity and its adverse
political affects on intra-ethnic relations. At that time over
125 tons of arms were found (more than 9.000 missiles, 120
mm, equipped with ignition and ready for use and some
3.000 kg of gunpowder). SFOR- experts estimated that in a
possible explosion of such a quantity of explosives, would
make craters of more that 100 meters in diameter and destroy
whole city quarters.
Abductions have been a rather frequent form of organized
crime in BiH. Thus far the motive was a material gain. It is
worth mentioning that the entity internal affairs authorities
achieved very good cooperation in such cases. Otherwise, the
cooperation between entity interior authorities was better in
uncovering the cases of organized crime that in the case of
terrorism.
Corruption is one of the problems blocking more successful combating the organized crime and within it trading in
human beings, extremely high in BiH. According to estimates
it ranks among the highest in the world and connected with
the international institutions. Namely, organized crime in BiH
directly relies on the widespread corruption and abuses of
official positions and powers.
Penal legislation dating back to pre-war time is largely in
force in BiH, and under the Constitution of BiH (the so called
Dayton constitution), among the competencies of BiH is also
"implementation of international and inter-ethnic criminal
regulations, including the relations with Interpol" . However,
those constitutional provisions were not backed, until recently, by supporting legislation. That is to say that the legal regulations on criminal offences were completely in the competence of the entities. At the same time there is no institution
at the level of the central authorities of BiH of regular judicial
power (no Supreme court). The end of judicial power is in the
entities. In the year 2000, the Law on the Court of Bosnia and
Herzegovina came into force, , which stipulated also "criminal
liability " of that authority.
Within the implementation of the General framework for
peace in BiH, important innovation in Penal code were
undertaken in both entities thanks to great efforts on the part
of the international community, already in the initial years of
peace. The valid entity penal codes stipulated several criminal
acts, in the same paragraph, the commitment of which has the
characteristic of organized crime. These are offences against
freedoms and rights of the citizens, dignity of a person and
moral, against public health, property, general security etc.
The changes and amendments are under consideration in
both entities. It has been planned to change the offence of
"pimping" into "trade in human beings for prostitution". It was
also proposed to supplement the existing criminal offences
with new ones, among them: "forgery of credit cards and noncash payment cards", "fabrication, acquisition and possession,
sale and offering to others the banknotes or shares for forging" and "money laundry". The work is under way to change
and amend their laws on criminal proceedings, too.
The competent authorities of BiH (Presidency and
Council of Ministers) have proposed, together with the representatives of the international organizations, the enactment, namely changes and amendments of the so called
"umbrella laws" that would be enforceable throughout the territory of BiH, and as follows: the enactment of the Law on
special security measures in case of an international armed
conflict or an international terrorist crisis threatening the
security of BiH and the changes and amendments to the Law
on asylum and immigration and the Law on citizenship of
BiH. Legislative activity on the adoption, namely implementation of the so-called set of five laws under CIPS project is
under way (uniform identification document of BiH citizens)
that will regulate in more secure way the issues of the socalled "civic status" for the citizens of BiH. It is concerned
with the Law on identity card, the Law on uniform identity
number, Law on permanent residence, on temporary residence of BiH citizens, the Law on central record and
exchange of data and the Law on the protection of private
data. The activities were intensified to provide for uniform
regulation and recording of certain identification documents
of citizens (driving licenses, traffic licenses and ownership
licenses for vehicles), which should considerably improve
security, and suppression of organized crime.
The Bill on intelligence and protection agency was submitted to the parliament, aiming at more efficient and comprehensive action in the domain of investigation and suppression of organized international and interethnic crime, to
cover the whole territory of BiH. The initiative was moved to
merge intelligence services in the territory of BiH Federation
(there are two at the moment) and enactment of the law n the
federal intelligence service. Also, the entity laws on agencies
for protection of persons and property are under way. They
concern physical and technical protection of persons and
property of companies, institutions and other incorporated
entities, by special agencies or internal in-house security.
Such security has been practiced so far without any legal
grounds, which gave raise to a number of security problems.
For upgrading of normative and legal procedures a number of
supporting regulations will be important. Thus, the Council
of Ministers of BiH approved the Decisions introducing the
so-called "Landing Card" (form filled by aliens entering BiH),
allowing more complete records on entry and exit at the airport check points.
The improvements presented above aiming at better legal
framework to combat organized crime should be related to
the attempts of integrating the international solutions, specifically the "Palermo Convention" into the legal system of BiH.
In the same vain goes the initiated process for accession
of BiH to some international treaties: the Strasbourg
Convention of the Council of Europe of 1990 on money laundry, search, temporary seizure and confiscation of profit
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 23
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
earned in criminal activities, and the Vienna Convention of
the United nations of 1988, on the struggle against trafficking
in drugs and psychotropic substances.
State border control has been vested to entities for years.
Such a situation cause a number of weaknesses, to mention
but a few:
- The control procedure was selective at the intra-state border at the territory of an entity, where "tolerance" towards the
members of "my nation" was considered by many as an allegiance to the national cause;
- The entity police forces who controlled the border were
under strong influence of the ruling nationalist political parties;
- Connections between power wielders in the government
and criminal groups "functioned smoothly";
- Cooperation between entities was very weak and "determined by national interest", and many data of importance for
the work of the authorities in another entity were concealed.
In early 2000 the State border service of BiH was established under the law, set up in such a way to directly perform
all the border control along the entire intra-state border of
BiH and within 10 kilometers inside as well as at the international airports. Under certain conditions this service may
exercise its competences in the area beyond the mentioned
border zone. So far the competence of the State border service has covered almost 90% of the total inter-state border of
BiH and on two out of four international airports in BiH.
Priority tasks of the State border service are uncovering and
prevention and suppression of illicit border crossing, illicit
trade in high tariff and excise goods, trade in human beings,
drug trafficking, transfer of stolen cars across the border, discovery of forged documents, and struggle against terrorism.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on USA of 11
September 2001, BiH formed Coordination team against terrorism and organized crime, composed of the representatives
of the central authorities and entities (Federation BiH and
Republika Srpska). The representatives of the international
community regularly take part in its work (SFOR, IPTF,
OHR, OSCE, UNMBiH, US Embassy in BiH and others), so
that it has 24 members. The Coordination team proceeds in
keeping with the Plan of action of the institutions in BiH and
entities on prevention and combat of terrorist activities and
organized crime, approved by the Council of ministers of
BiH. This is the program of measures of wider range containing the main aspects, namely lines of action. Thea are as
follows:
- Legislative measures and activities, aimed at more certain legal framework for combating terrorism and organized
crime and
24 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
- Measures and activities for improving organizational,
material and technical equipment of the competent state
authorities and their mutual cooperation at all levels of law
enforcement.
The authorities in BiH and in entities whose competences
touch upon the struggle against organized crime have good
cooperation with the authorities of the international community who are active in BiH further to Peace Treaty implementation. It is reflected in their joint engagement in uncovering
and prevention of certain criminal activities and offering significant help to the judiciary, police and state border police in
the area of their competence, professional performance of the
duties assigned, in their capacity building and equipment.
The cooperation with neighboring countries (Croatia and
FRY) in the struggle against organized crime in 2002 was
improved. It particularly relates to the definition of border
crossing for international and intrastate traffic, cross border
traffic and identification of borderland in the struggle against
illicit immigration and organized crime. To that end a
Regional task force was established to take care of those
issues. BiH also has its representative with SECI Center in
Bucharest.
To enhance the suppression of organized crime in BiH
the following measures should be taken:
- Tackling of the current economic and other social problems successfully and strengthening of overall democratization of society that objectively narrows down the area for
organized criminal activities;
- An adequate response, namely condemnation of such a
conduct on the part of the public, entailing the need for permanent development and strengthening of social awareness
about adverse effects of such criminal activity;
- An urgent need for the rule of law consolidation and permanent improvement of organizational structure, material
and technical equipment and financial support to the state
authorities in charge of uncovering and punishment of the
perpetrators of criminal offences. The point of departure is
that the responsibility for the struggle against that evil primarily lies with the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then its
right to have the institutions of its state authority adequately
participating.
- The legal treatment of organized crime should rely on
regional harmonization of regulations as well as inclusion
into the national legislation of all international legal acts concerning this matter;
- The authorities for uncovering and sanctioning criminal
offences within the organized crime are encumbered significantly by lack of unprofessional performance, as well as the
influences of party power centers, often on ethnic grounds;
- Cooperation of the competent central, entity and cantonal authorities should be further enhanced, and their elec-
tronic networking for the sake of easier and more efficient
tracing and punishment of perpetrators of criminal activities;
- The revision of admission to the citizenship of BiH
should be finalized the soonest possible because of a number
of foreigners in the last ten years, since quite a number of
decisions were made on the basis of forged documents and
false testimonies, but also deliberate decisions motivated on
unacceptable nationalistic and religious grounds. It is necessary also to trace the changed identity of such persons in the
meantime. This is because it was found that among such individuals more than one case of terrorist activity and organized
crime were discovered;
- Inter governmental cooperation of competent authorities
is necessary, both within the existing international bodies and
organizations but also through direct contacts of individual
states, and particularly between all the states in the region.
- There is great need for further intensive activities by the
state in the region (and beyond) to harmonize visa regime
within Schengen; signing of an agreement on acceptance of
illegal immigrants for their repatriation to their countries of
origin; provision of shelters for aliens, resolution of repatriation problems and granting asylum, provision of required
information and radio communication links among the competent authorities;
- In BiH, like in the rest of the region, there are enormous
quantities of weapons dating back to wartime but out of any
control or record. It is reflected in BiH in many cases of enormous stocks of all types of armament discovered, in the international illicit arms smuggling of large quantities and many
cases every year of car bombs and the similar, resulting in
murders, injuries and great material loss. That is why it is necessary to take additional measures to bring such weapons
under the control of the state (control of SFOR), to be accompanied by changes and amendments of the existing laws to
enable drastic sanctions for not only holders of such weapons
but expressly harsh legal and political measures against those
who are objectively responsible for hiding and smuggling larger quantities of arms.
(3) Organized crime in Croatia
Organized crime in Croatia is on a steady upward trend
and it is not easy to grasp its magnitude. Fundamental
changes in social and economic systems in Croatia in early
90s, war devastation and many years of occupation of parts
of Croatia are some of the major exogenous causes of the
present day situation, structure and movements of the total
crime, hence, the organized crime, too. Lack of capacity on
the part of the state, particularly judiciary to cope with the
problem, renders the struggle against organized crime difficult, but also the investigation into it. Moreover, the organized crime is secretive, namely it is unwillingly spoken of,
even less written about in Croatia.
One of the phenomena linked to the organized crime is
mafia square of accounts, mostly in Zagreb, being the capital
of Croatia. Merciless war of the Zagreb underground has
been waged for ten years now. Liquidation of persons are
treated in the underground as unavoidable elimination of surplus in that cruel, almost perfect mechanism of crime. Since
1997, when the cruel settlements started within the underground groups 17 mafia members lost their lives, at least.
One of the first victims was a young car thief, killed in the
street firing in Dubrava. His murderer surrendered to Police
on his own, and it remains as one of rare cases resolved so far.
Soon followed a series of even worse and more atrocious
killings, unresolved to these days. The culmination was the
assassination of the first «Croatian gambling king», Zlatko
Bagarić, at the same time the main boss in the underground.
His clan was then assigned to continue where he stopped; the
clan became very dangerous. Rare are those who survive
assassination, but yet another «king of gambling» Vjeko
Sliško, survived, even four times, but the fifth time his good
luck wasn't there. The rumor goes that the assassinations
were contracted, because another gang aspired at taking over
his business. On the occasion of the fourth assassination an
accidental passer by was killed too, otherwise owner of a
video club, a father of two children. After that the police started a long prepared hunting of members of the underground,
marked as affiliates of the late «gambling king's»clan. The
hunting is still going on, witnesses are numerous, and court
trials fill the press columns. Police and mafia compel the
mafia members to testify against each other. Within «the criminal organizations» they plant each other various scandals. In
the course of those trials implication of quite unexpected persons became evident, who were never singled out for excesses, not had a criminal record. Foreign specialized agencies
and the international institutions have had no confidence in
the Croatian Police, which admitted, as late as 1999. the existence of organized crime in Croatia, but since 1997 failed to
resolve a single mafia murder.
The assassin of the other "gambling king", Sliška, who was
shot by a guard a couple of minutes after the assassination
was a man of "doubtful past" who held a Belgium next to the
Croatian citizenship. A question was raised then how could a
man, who had already been accused of a murder, have
obtained Croatian citizenship. The reply is found in Article 12
of the Law on Croatian citizenship, which says that citizenship can be granted to a foreigner if it serves the interest of
the Republic of Croatia. This is not a single example of generous grants of doubtful citizenship certificates. Thus, of
6,600 persons who were granted citizenship, even 253 were
criminals, but had no police record in Croatia at the time
when they obtained it
Croatia is one of the main transit countries for traffickers
in human beings.
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 25
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
According to estimates, some 75,000 illegal residents pass
through Croatia per year. The officially released data are naturally reduced by two thirds. The earning of immigrants
smugglers has almost reached the profit of drug traffickers,
and according to estimates even four million people from the
poorest parts of the world - Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe
head for Europe, West, America or Australia. Many illegal
migrants meet a tragic end. So for instance, six Kurds, in
autumn 2002 drowned in the river of Sava and in an attempt
of illegal border crossing. During the year 2000 the Croatian
police apprehended 21.000 illegal migrants, attempting to
cross the border. Those participating in human smuggling do
not feel like criminals. On the contrary, they think there is no
wrong doing in assisting the unfortunates from the Far East
who wish to get to the rich West.
Croatia is a country of transit; destination and origin of
trade in human beings. Prostitution is illegal in Croatia; hence
in the year 2000 only, 198 foreign citizens were deported
from Croatia to the country of origin, while a dozen Croatian
citizens were returned from Spain, Switzerland and Italy. In
the course of summer Herzegovina was the biggest center for
trade in human beings in the region bordering with Night
clubs with prostitution are usually located in the suburbs of
large towns, and ever more in Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik,
too. Street and other types of prostitution are traditionally
present in large port centers such Rijeka and Pula. Between
1998 and 2000 five persons were convicted, and between
1995 and 2000, 56 persons were arrested for meditation in
prostitution, of whom even six females. There are no shelters
for victims; while of specialized organizations there is only
IOM (Bjelica Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings, SDC,
Beograd, 43, 44). Characteristic of Croatia is that it authorities, media and public at large are trying to down scale the
phenomena of prostitution and other forms of organized
crimes, painting the image of Croatia as one of the safest
countries in Europe. Also characteristic is that in the course
of 2000 only, 180 children were found without parental care.
Most of them were from Turkey, BiH, Romania, FR
Yugoslavia and Bangladesh. Among them were 27 sexually
abused girls during their journey through Croatia, BiH and
FRY.
In Croatia, like in FRY, the legal framework in force dates
back to former Yugoslavia, namely several provisions are
applicable (on slavery and transportation of human beings in
slave like position, on illegal immigration, pimping for prostitution) from the Penal Code, pending the fulfillment of the
obligation by Croatia arising from the Protocol of Palermo to
introduce one provision on trade in human beings.
No special units against organized crime are existent within the Ministry of the Interior, although Croatia signed The
Agreement on cooperation for prevention and struggle
26 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
against transnational crime, within SECI.
The Croatian arms suppliers are involved in a wider, international network of arms traffickers. Thus, they turned into
the main suppliers of weapons for the two most notorious terrorist organizations in Europe, Bask ETA and the Irish IRA.
As those organizations pay in Colombian cocaine more often
than not, the illegal exporters of weapons became illicit
importers of drug into Croatia. During 1988, the French
policemen discovered the supply of 120 kilograms of explosives, delivered from Croatia. In March 2001 375 boxes of
explosives were found in a truck at the French-Spanish border, which turned out to have been delivered from Croatia.
Finally, in April 2001 Bask terrorists liquidated Manuelo
Gonzales Abada, the President of the Aragone farmers party,
with the "Croatian "samokres", manufactured in Ozalj factory
"IM- Metal". The same factory, thanks to the very structure of
the «Croatian samokres» earned the reputation of the company under exclusive supervision of MORH. Still, the investigation of the Interior Ministry on illegal trade with the Bask
terrorists has been based on a couple of harmless reports
against the factory owner. Croatia is one of the weapons distributors for the European criminal and political underground.
Gambling is one of the major criminal activities of the
Croatian mafia and the main form of money laundry. While
in the world gambling houses at least the basic criteria have
to be met, in terms of space and standardized equipment, in
Croatia gambling rooms are dark, cellar holes, with just a
couple of tables, where almost no one respects the Gambling
rules, poker slot machines are set to rob the players. No control, of course. The gamblers are often both the athletes and
Mafiosi, ordinary people, but politicians, too.
Cigarette trafficking earns enormous profits. Croatia, is
one of the biggest markets of such cigarettes, relative to its
size. Only one of the companies implicated in the business
imported annually without payment of customs duty, 2500
tons of cigarettes. During 2001, 15 raids were made when a
considerable number of cigarettes were seized, of which some
70% from Croatian factories. The state budget, according to
some estimates falls short of around 800 million DM annually. That is why European Union wants to prevent the import
of two most popular brands Marlboro and Winston.
Montenegro was also, in the chain, as a big warehouse of illicit cigarettes, via its ports.
Prostitution is going on not only in suburban inns but also
in hotels, flats, student dormitories, automobiles, but the
«night girls» are on offer in the streets in Croatia. Street prostitution involved mainly elderly women, in an evidently lower
social status, often addicted to drugs or alcohol, who charge
half the price of the girls in advertisements, who work in flats,
Balkan network
Mold
Ukraine
avia
Poland
Czech republic
France
Deutschland
Bratislava Slovakia
Austria
Switzerland
Budapest
hotels and inns. The earning is divided
Hungary
fifty: fifty with the employer, and each
Croatia
Milan
can earn between 3 and 5 thousand
Yugoslavia
marks a month. The customers are quite
B&H
versatile - from restaurant owners and
Kosovo
Romania
Black Sea
Bulgaria
importer of goods, to tycoons, businessSofia
men, to generals and priests. Apart from
Podgorica
"escort girls" the boys are available, too
Roma
as "escort boys". Their principles are not
Bare Tirana
Naples
Crossroads
much different from the female prostituAlbania
ITALY
tions, but "escort boys" are paid considfor heroin
erably more than girls, also sharing the
and
earning with the pimps. Well-off men
Greece
Mediterranean
rather than women often call them.
Their contact phones are also in the
advertisements, and according to estimates male prostitution accounts for 10-15% of the total pros- First, the process of transition, without new profiled civil
titution in Zagreb. Police cannot establish how many persons
and democratic society, and lack of institutions or state manare involved in prostitution and they call it a "dark number".
agement capable of eliminating organized crime.
Under the Croatian regulations prostitution is a petty offense,
- Second, the central position of Macedonia in the Balkans
while pimping and international prostitution are offences.
crossroads of criminal communication concerning drug and
However, despite it, ever more women and men sell their
weapons trafficking and trade in human beings,
body. Hence, the opinion started prevailing that prostitution
- Third, a whole decade of "Balkan wars" attracted all
should be legalized on health care grounds of both the girls
types of dirty business and crime, particularly in 2001, as the
and the clients, but also for money which would go into the
year of an armed conflict in Macedonia situated all types of
state treasury via internal revenue collections.
crime and criminals into the new framework. Thus a terrorist
criminal amalgamation evolved, which has an international
The recommendations for a global strategy of suppression
dimension when threat is concerned.
of organized crime in Croatia could be summarized as follows:
Money laundry is favored by unsteady economic and political system, absence or insufficient capacity of institutions,
- Penetration of police into the criminal associations for
especially in the sectors of banking and finance, tolerance for
discovery and evidence collection about criminal activities
gray and speculative capital and money flows and permanent
and criminal structure of such associations,
economic and social crisis. Also fertile soils for money laun- Facilitation and more efficient seizure of material gain
dries are the privatization processes. This is the possibility for
from the members of criminal associations, gained in criminal
laundering money of doubtful origin, namely acquired in
actions
criminal activities. Although this is widespread phenomenon,
- Prevention of spilling over of the so called dirty money
so far only two criminal reports were filed on the charges of
(earned in criminal activity) into legal financial and econommoney laundry. One, to the Ministry of the Interior was a clasic flows, hence prevention of money laundry,
sic example for such an activity, as it was the money gained by
- Suppression of corruption,
abuse and forgery in the economy which was further infiltrat- Study and implementation of efficient models of prevened though financial system and released for purchase of secution of organized crime.
rities of one and the same company.
(4) Organized crime in Macedonia
Ever more widespread racketeering, planting of explosive
ordinances, trafficking in weapons, and drugs, and pyramidal
savings institutions, oil smuggling and cigarette trafficking,
speculations in financial and banking business and organized
murders demonstrate the seriousness required in approaching the organized crime in Macedonia. Two contributing factors can be identified:
According to the data of the Chamber of commerce of
Macedonia, all the financial institutions have their program
against money laundry and regularly inform the competent
institutions how they implement the obligations under the
Law on prevention of money laundry The Administration
received 3,000 petitions, mainly forwarded by the banks, customs administration, insurance companies and institutions
combating this type of organized crime of other countries. At
the request of notaries, lawyers, authorized bookkeepers,
auditors, the interpretation was provided concerning the ceil-
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 27
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
ing up to which those entities may invoke business secret as
official secret in case of any doubt that the transactions proceed or have proceeded with money laundered from criminal
activity. Under the auspices of US government, a seminar was
convened to transmit the US experience in combating financial crime, particularly in coordination of the Ministry of justice and finance and FBI.
The Criminal law of Macedonia contains no criminal act
of trading in human beings, although it represents serious violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms, particularly, the right not to be a slave.
In the trade of women Macedonia is a country of destination and transit. It is estimated that between 1,500 and 2,500
women were victims of trade in human beings in Macedonia.
The organized criminal gangs of Macedonian and Albanian
nationals are implicated in it. According to the data of the
Interior , there are two main recruitment centers, one in
Kisinjev in Moldova and the other in Odessa, Ukraine.
Around Kumanovo, border with Serbia, surroundings of
Tetovo, border with Kosovo and in the border zone with
Bulgaria and Dirjan and Djevdjelija at the border with
Greece, are the centers for trade in human beings. On either
side of the border there are well organized groups which use
border places as their bases; women are sold at 1000 to 3000
marks; in the territory of Macedonia there are strong contacts
with the bosses of night clubs. In Macedonia itself most of the
nightclubs are in the western Macedonia, along the road
Tetovo - Gostivar - Debar. Some police officers at the local
level are implicated in this business. Characteristic of
Macedonia is that this type of organized crime completely
disappeared in 2001, when it was replaced by more lucrative
business, arms trafficking and further to the armed insurrection of extreme Albanians, trade in human beings and prostitution started again in the course of 2002.
No specific Article in the Criminal law refers to trade in
human beings, but there is a draft Article that should be
approved. Pending the approval, several Articles of the
Criminal law are resorted to during the trials, like in Croatia
and FRY.
A special unit in charge of trafficing in human beings was
established in the year 2000, whose members are assigned
throughout Macedonia. Between 1995 and 2001 147 individuals were arrested on charges of trade in human beings, while
between 1997 and 2001 there were 80 court proceedings,
thus far 30 being closed. This is the problem dealt by IOM,
Aurora of Struga, La Strada and other women organizations
(Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings, SDC, Beograd,
45, 46).
The outstanding question is delineation of trade in human
28 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
beings and prostitution, and immigrants smuggling. The
Ministry of Justice is working on the implementation of the
obligations undertaken under the Palermo Protocol (Article
5), namely the definition of the trade in human beings as a
specific criminal act. IOM mission in Skopje suggests the following in this regard: uniform criminal persecution, more
comprehensive international approach, stronger communications between investigation, court and police authorities in
the region, efficient sanctioning, The activities of NGOs are
also of importance, namely their campaigns, vigilance, establishment of advisory centers and shelters.
Macedonia, particularly after the armed conflict, ranks
among the Balkan countries with high concentration of
weapons originating from the wars in ex Yugoslavia a specially the Kosovo crisis, which opened up the room for illicit
arms trade, as one of the most profitable deals within the
organized crime.
The attempts at suppressing arms trafficking and collecting the armament from the citizens yielded no satisfactory
results. During the year 2001, totally 3,278 various types of
arms were seized on different grounds (various types of military armament, such as machine guns and shot gun, rocket
launchers, hand rocket launchers, hand laser grenades but
also various hunting and sports arms.). Coordination with
military structures, customs offices and public prosecutors'
has functioned well in the prevention and elimination drives.
In the same vein, the state authorities of Macedonia launched
different activities. Thus, the Law on voluntary surrender and
assembly of arms entered the parliamentary procedure, allowing the citizens 45 days for surrender of arms, explosives and
devices, counting from the date of effectiveness and in turn
they would be acquitted of criminal persecution for the
offence of "unauthorized possession of arms or explosive
materials " (Article 396 of the Law on procurement, possession and carriage of arms).
Since this type of organized crime has a regional dimension it requires cooperation among the Balkan police to suppress illegal trade in arms. Thus in 1999 within a drive of the
Stability Pact, Macedonian police initiated a joint action of
the Police forces to assemble the arms in Greece, Albania,
FRY and Macedonia. The initiative was supported by EU,
NATO, USA, but has never been implemented. The cooperation has been established with some states in the region within the Project of small and light arms destruction of the
Stability Pact.
Corresponding attempts were undertaken by non-governmental organizations in Macedonia. Among them, particularly active are Movens as an NGO for social and cultural development of the Albanians and Balans whose slogan is: STOP
arms! The campaign of Movens is directed towards enhance-
ment of awareness among the young Albanians as being the
victims of weapons. Balans alerts the public of the danger
attached to weapons and via the government it exerts pressure on restaurant owners not to let carrying of arms. Video
clips are being produced in Macedonian and Albanian languages. Both actions are concentrated in the crisis regions of
Tetovo and Kumanovo.
Corruption has not spared Macedonia. On the contrary,
there are serious judgments about a high degree of corruption in the Macedonian state and society. The Macedonian
media abound in details and convincing reports on the corruption practice. Examples like the purchase of the
Macedonian refinery are stated by a Greek concern, financial
scandal of the Defense ministry concerning the misappropriation of budgetary items, smuggling and racketeering in the
customs administration with the implication of high government officials. Then the corruption in the Ministry of economy, the announced privatization of electricity supply system,
claimed to be capable of earning millions of profit for the government officials.
The corruption goes practically on two fronts. Legislation
established and defined which activities are prone to corruption and the attitude of society and state to corruption was
defined. The Macedonian parliament has thus enacted the
Law on prevention of corruption, as one of the first and basic
steps towards preventing that phenomenon. Article 3, par 2
of the Law stipulates: "Abuse of official position, position of
a responsible individual within the corporate body, or the person discharging the tasks of public interest, in earning a benefit for himself or another person shall be considered as corruption and entails criminal, civil and other liabilities". The
Law against money laundry, the Law on corruption and the
Law on drugs have been enacted. The very Ministry of
finance is involved in suppressing corruption; in the course of
2001 the Ministry filed 450 criminal reports for tax evasion
and a large number of reports on petty offences, which
account for 75% of the total filings in the
state sector. The judiciary reform is
under way aimed at as effective struggle
against organized crime as possible.
Also, within state mechanisms and police
forces, special departments were organized and main offices formed for corruption suppression, financial police, administration for prevention of money laundry, strengthening of police inspectorates, offices in the migration department, establishment of border police,
etc. But, the institutional system continues to be inefficient, and the weakest
point in the system is customs administration, while one of the biggest challenges is control of migration and traffic on the Kosovo border. There are many indicators that Kosovo is the center for
expansion of organized crime and corruption to Macedonia
and the region. Here we have at stake the question of responsibility shouldered by the UN SC who administers Kosovo
and in view of the fact that individual representatives of civil
and military mission of UN in Kosovo, appear as part of the
chain of the organized crime and corruption.
As to the international legislation in this domain, and
accepted in Macedonia, it should be said that 37 international conventions and other documents were ratified or signed in
the field of human rights, among them the UN Convention
against transnational organized crime, with the additional
Protocols. Also, IOM, the International Office of Migrations,
opened its mission in Skopje, and Macedonia became a member of GREKO group. Numerous international workshops
are organized and task forces formed, to fight the organized
crime.
Further to the analysis it could be recommended that the
struggle against organized crime in Macedonia should be
enhanced via the following activities:
- Establishment of the rule of law, independent and professional institutions, state management, ready and capable to
confront the organized crime
- Transparent process of privatization.
- Regional and international approach and bonding.
- Unification of regional legislature and practice.
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 29
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
Part II
MAJOR FORMS OF ORGANIZED
CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
T
his section of the Report is intended to present some of
the most widespread forms of organized crime, to point
to priority areas calling for suppression of organized
crime.
(1) Corruption and crime
Corruption is manifested in various ways and goes under
many definitions. One of the most frequent and at the same
time the simplest definition is the one saying that corruption
is the abuse of official position for material gain for oneself or
a third party. Since the societies in the Western Balkan are in
transitions and in a very early stage of economic reform this
Report will particularly focus on the following manifestations
and forms of corruption:
1) The so-called "street corruption" relating to permanent
bribes, whether when visiting a medical surgery, committing
a traffic offense, carriage of goods over the border, enrollment in school, acquisition of various forms and the similar.
2) Commercial corruption, relating to illicit linkages in the
market, evading the regulations and providing for the conditions for illicit market competition, destruction of competition and creation of monopoly position.
3) The most dangerous aspect of commercial corruption
is the "supreme corruption", whose actors are connected with
the political power centers, namely the individuals, aiming at
monopolistic position in the market that bribe the politicians
in power to favor individual participants in the market. It has
often been discussed that political parties are financed in that
way. Quite dangerous political coupling is thus created
between the political top and economic power wielders resulting in market distortions, damage the state, primarily its budget and legal and economic uncertainties. Such corruption
often turns into a tool of organized crime most often police
forces are bribed, like judges and other state authorities to
proceed with the activities of organized crime.
Any corruption is usually associated with high government officials, politicians and people from big business and it
is mainly concentrated around control of strategic national
economic resources. The basic characteristic of such a corruption is that it goes primarily in strict secrecy and with full
participation of state authorities in charge of anti-corruption.
After a rather disinterested position of the media in the last
ten years in big corruption, big scandals connected with corruption came to the very focus of politics and normally the
public in the last couple of months. Both in Serbia and
30 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
Montenegro it happened with cigarette trafficking when the
Croatian weekly "National" published a series of stories about
the Balkan "tobacco" mafia. It coincided with the political
clashes in those states and provoked a small revolution in the
attitude of the public towards corruption. Hence a significant
increase in the number and quality of news stories about the
topic. One of the effects was a clearer regional connection of
illegal businesses. That is why one may hear daily the statements in public like: if the criminals can, why the government
cannot cooperate! The criminals indicate the areas of already
existing cooperation. The coverage of "National" has already
had its affects on the national political scenes. Thus, the parliament of Montenegro spent more than two weeks discussing
the formation of a parliamentary commission to investigate
the allegations of "National" - as yet another chance to point
to the irreplaceable role of freedom of the press in creating
public opinion on corruption.
One of the major means in combating corruption is the
transparency in the privatization process. Namely, the abuse
of information and other forms of inadmissible conduct is
facilitated by the secrecy and non-transparency of the process
itself. For example, privatization can be quite transparent if
based on a tender or auction, as provided for under the new
Law. The problem arises when the sale cannot proceed via
those methods because of the lack of quality demand. If so,
many companies shall be sold directly or shall remain unsold,
that is to say non privatized. Direct sale is most prone to corruption due to s simple reason of the lowest transparency,
with simultaneously high level of administrative discretion.
Discussing the process of privatization, the level of corruption depends on the method of privatization. The main
weakness of privatization in the societies of Western Balkans
mainly comes from the fact that the sale of companies is the
dominant and exclusive method. For instance, privatization in
Serbia is at a standstill predominantly because of inadequate
institutional support, namely non-existence of numerous laws
otherwise required or the shortcomings of the existing laws.
A typical example is the law on bankruptcy and liquidation of
a company, Company Law, Restitution law, Public procurements law and many others. Also, the excessive present discretionary powers of the state should be reduced, and its role
scaled down to prescribing the clear rules and control of
enforcement. Thus, numerous potential sources of corruption would be eliminated. Namely, the state should be strong
in terms of ensuring the institutional influence, particularly
free market, but it should, the soonest possible and to the
highest extent, distance itself from state
interventions in the economy, specifically subsidies to companies, under political
pressure or out of own political motives.
The quality and strength of state institutions are decisive for the success of
reforms; hence the state should procure
services essential for market functioning,
such as market laws. The quality and
strength of state institutions are decisive
for the success of reform, hence the state
should provide for the services that are
essential for market functioning such as
the enforcement of law, good infrastructure, safe ownership relations as well as
macroeconomic stability.
To help suppress corruption in the
commercial sphere, the following recommendations should be implemented:
- Liberalize foreign trade regime further,
- Change the legal framework for privatization to reduce discretionary power
in its implementation.
- Eliminate discretionary authorities
form all the regulations, unless really
needed
- Redefine the role of the state to
relax its interference into economic sphere.
- Well organized and implemented internal and external
control, of both privatization process and regular company
operations,
- Radical and fundamental economic institutional reform
is needed to secure efficient elimination of some of the key
causes of corruption, and first of all disperse the monopoly of
politicians over the decisions in the economy, limit the discretion decision making power of the state administration,
ensure transparency and control mechanisms for public service, discovery, criminal sanctioning of the actors of such phenomena provide the instruments for lustration of the holders
of public authorities with proven connections with organized
crime and/or participation in the corruption.
- Institutional reform, to enable them struggles against
corruption and organized crime, primarily of the Police,
Financial police, customs, state prosecutors, and courts.
- Reform of media, namely public services, training of
journalists to competently and systematically cover the problem of corruption and particularly the triangle corruptionpoliticians-organized crime.
- The role of civil associations in stigmatization of corruption practice, information and education of the population
has been neglected and activities of those segments should be
intensified towards compiling the widest possible coalition to
combat that threatening social phenomenon.
(2) Trafficking in human beings
Trafficking in human beings, particularly in women and
children constitutes a form of contemporary slavery and one
of the most lucrative types of organized crime. The wars in
the Balkans, which dramatically changed the social structure
and created bad conditions where women were far more
affected, fostered this trade. The objectives of trade in human
beings are prostitution under coercion, house chores, debt
servitude, coercive marriage, false adoption, sex-tourism or
sex for entertainment, pornography, and abuse in other criminal activities, etc.
Men and women of Eastern Europe and the Balkans are
heading, legally or illegally, towards EU, in search for a job
(Tašić, Vesna; Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings,
Reporter, Beograd, 31 October, No 184, 12). In that context
smuggling of people often turns into trade in human beings,
based on genuine exploitation of an individual in a slave-like
position. The crucial difference is that a migrant who wants
to be smuggled is doing that out of free will, but a victim of
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 31
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
trade in human beings has no freedom of choice. Then, the
trade in human beings need not take place between states,
namely it is possible within the boundaries of a single state. In
fact, the "victim" is the key term that defines the trade in
human beings (Bjelica Jelena, 2002, Trade in human beings,
SDC, Beograd, 5). Otherwise this type of organized crime is
connected with forgery, drugs, extortions and racketeering,
money laundry and even contracted murders.
Despite that, the trade in human beings remained insufficiently investigated but at the same time extremely attractive
topic for the press. However, the media approach to the trade
in human beings is sensational, mainly. Serious research journalism is rare, which would cast light on the essence of that
type of organized crime. (Bjelica, Jelena, 2002, Trade in
human beings, SDC, Beograd, 5).
The Balkan route is one of the notorious in organized
crime and trafficking in human beings. The Western Balkans
plays a triple role in it: this is the region of origin, namely
recruitment of illegal migrants (it is estimated that some
200,000 women of the Balkans have been the victims of the
trafficking in human beings in recent years), it is the transit
areas, which is its primarily role, and also the market for illicit labor force.
All the forms of traffickers identified at the European conference for the struggle against trade in human beings are
present in the region.
These are traffickers, stringers, in the areas around borders, who provide internal and international transport. Of the
organization of that transport speaks an example where a
tourist organization from Serbia holds a regular line by a van,
once a week, between Čop, at the Hungarian border and FRY
and Belgrade; well organized traffickers specialized in human
trafficking from one ethnicity only and thirdly, the traffickers
implicated in sophisticated international networks, who have
access to the documents, either forged or stolen even the original.
The existence of the following types of networks for trafficking in human beings was found: "big network" based on
the contacts at the different commercial and political circles
in the countries of origin and destination of the victims. Their
main business is sale of women, who are disproportionably
numerous, but of men, to others, too. This type of network
uses Western Balkans just as a transit zone, while the transit,
namely transport is provided by the network and if need be a
couple of local groups. "Medium network" sells no people to
others but maintains them under its control in their own
nightclubs and brothels. "Small network" usually involves
concrete owners of clubs in one region (Tašić, Vesna; Bjelica,
Jelena, 2002, Trafficking in human beings, Reporter,
Beograd, 31 October, No 184, 13).
32 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
Research of this phenomenon in Western Balkans reveals
that ethnic conflicts and discrimination contribute to making
people victims of modern slavery, primarily because it motivates them for emigration or turns them into refugees. At the
same time ethnic divisions are no hindrance to the criminals.
On the contrary, they avail themselves of the situations of limited freedom, primarily in ethnic and other war conflicts, isolation by means of international and internal sanctions, to
expand their business and profits in mutual cooperation.
The trade in white slavery cannot be organized without
the implication of politicians and police, particularly at the
local levels. It was proven also in the so-called sex scandal in
Montenegro (discussed in the section of this Report on FRY,
namely Montenegro), while in Serbia, Montenegro and BiH
policemen even own some of the brothels.
According to the UN report about 500,000 women and
children are smuggled annually. Trafficking, one of the contemporary global problems is connected to various forms of
social pathology. Most frequent forms are organized prostitution, pimping, illegal migration, pornography and sexual slavery, sexual abuse of children for shooting porno pictures and
films sales of children and pimping as a separate type of slavery closely tied to other forms of organized crime, such as
money laundry, drug trafficking. This problem, under the
conditions of globalization acquires new forms and aspects
hardly acceptable to civilized standards of humane relations
and human rights Although it seemed that the problem of
slavery went into history, at least when European space is
concerned, it evolved as a special problem of white slavery
and as a specific form of organized crime.
Trafficking in human beings, particularly women and children have grown, in the second half of the nineties into an
extremely serious problem in the Western Balkans. One of
the reasons is the war as well as the international peacekeeping missions. Thus, the deployment of a significant number of
soldiers to BiH, Kosovo and Macedonia created a need for
greater number of prostitutes, and import from abroad.
Material deprivation in the states of the former socialist
block, going through the troublesome process of transition
specifically in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia,
favored the recruitment of women, even men, particularly
girls and boys. Most of them are deceived and involved in the
chain of trafficking and prostitution against own will and at
the cost of heavy harassment, physical cruelty and slave-like
exploitation.
Trafficking in children constitutes the best hidden but the
heaviest form of children prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sex exploitation. According to the reports of the
International organization combating child prostitution and
ignore the phenomenon and share the profit with other
actors in trafficking. For instance, in Albania in the year 2000
of totally 125 victims were assisted; women known to them
wooed more than a half, 18% were kidnapped. 93% of them
came via Montenegro, and some were raped along the way.
10% of them said that the Albanian police was directly implicated. The individual who woo the children, particularly for
sex exploitation are often those who had been the victims
themselves. The pimps are links in the chain, too, who control
the victim, and an organized group of criminals on top, who
profiteer most of the whole »business«.
trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation data about
children-victims of such a trade are more than alarming. In
Albania, for example, during the year 2000 assistance and
support was provided to 125 victims if trade, of whom 13%
were children, predominantly from Romania and Moldova.
In Kosovo of 160 victims involved in the program of assistance and reintegration in 2001 6% were children, who are
usually resold several times, finally getting into slave-like living conditions, experiencing extremely brutal; treatment by
their owners, but clients, too. Such a situation calls for an
urgent action at all the levels to protect the children in the
best possible way.
Children of certain ethnic, national and other groups
(minorities) are particularly exposed to the risk of becoming
the victims of trafficking. That is the case, for example with
the Roma population. There is a great danger from the socalled intra-Roma trafficking in boys and girls. and there is an
organized Roma mafia, selling children, mainly in Italy for
beggaring petty thefts, thus entering the world of crime.
The trafficking chain consists of a large number of different actors, some of whom are amateurs, while many of them
are professionals in the »business«. To begin with, it happens
that parents, for poverty or for additions or to cover some
socially unacceptable behavior (incest, for example), or due
to discriminatory attitude towards female children, material
greed and the similar sell their children. The mediators in trafficking could be other members of immediate or wider family (uncles, ants,), who get certain commission for coaxing into
or taking the children away. Then, the representatives of local
authorities may be implicated directly or indirectly who may
Trading in children targets at their later prostitution,
pornography, domestic chores, namely labor exploitation,
beggaring, adoption marriage criminal activities, participation in armed conflicts, trade in human organs and so forth.
Specially interesting but devastating and cruel reason why
sometimes quite young girls (seven years of age) are bought
and sold for prostitution, specially virgins, is that the users
want to be sure of no transmission of a contagious disease.
In view of the above, the conclusion is that children victims of
trafficking are double or better to say many time victimized.
First by the use of force, threat, coercion, deceit, and other
means in violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms,
detrimental to their health psychophysical and social development, threatening very life of a child. The children lost faith
in the adults, of whom they expect assistance and support,
because what they get is quite contrary which later on results
in disability of becoming themselves, personality but remain
victims for the rest of their lives.
The complexity of the phenomenon of trade in human
beings, specially in case of children, ever wider coverage and
seriousness of the phenomenon and far reaching consequences have lead in the past years to intensified efforts on
the part of the international community to tracing the models
and mechanisms of its control. As a result, numerous documents were approved (recommendations, conventions, resolutions, protocols), at the level of United Nations, Council of
Europe, Parliament of Europe, Stability pact for SEE,
Organization for European security and cooperation, etc.
The essence of those documents was to point out to the need
for better and more adequate protection of the victims of
trade, particularly children and women, punishment of perpetrators, coercion, both at the state level and at the regional
and the international levels, implementation of preventive
measures and programs and the similar. In such a way society is clearly signaled that this is a very serious and dangerous
form of criminality that requires confrontation by all. In this
light, the need for harmonization and adoption of national
legislation to the standards of the international community is
accentuated, including, naturally the countries of our region.
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 33
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
Trafficking in human beings is undoubtedly a regional
problem, characterized by cooperation of organized groups
of criminals from several countries. . Then, no serious activities have been undertaken in the countries of the Region to
suppress it. For instance, FRY started reintegration in the
international institutions after the Milosevic fall, and acceded
to the UN Convention with two additional Protocols
(Protocol I - For prevention, suppression and punishment of
trade in human beings, particularly women and children;
Protocol II - Against smuggling the migrants by land, sea and
air). It has given raise to undertaking serious action against
this phenomenon The results are yet unimpressive, unfortunately, but the fact is that ever greater attention is paid to control and prevention of that phenomenon. The linking of
Police of Montenegro and Serbia with the surrounding countries contributed, as well as regulatory reform started in this
sphere and the awareness raising campaigns and advocacy
with the relevant social actors.
At the national level, for instance in FRY, the changes in
regulations of relevance for police action to uncover the
organized crime, for the time being followed thee requirements of the UN Convention. New provisions were introduced in the law on Criminal proceedings of FRY (enforced
on 28 March 2002) as follows:
1) Article 109 par.3 - On the proposal by investigation
judge or the chairman of the panel of judges, the President of
the Court of state prosecutor may order that the organs of the
interior take special measures to protect a witness or the victim.
2) Article 232. - The investigation judge shall, further to
the written and explicated proposal of the state prosecutor
order surveillance and recording of telephone and other conversation or communications via other technical means and
optical recording of the individuals suspected of having committed offences against the constitutional order or security of
FRY, against humanity and international law, with the elements of organized crime (forgery or money laundry, unauthorized production and marketing of drugs, illicit arms
trade, ammunition or explosive material, trade in human
beings), giving or taking bribe, extortions and abduction.
3) The position of the defendant was considerably
changed throughout the proceedings, with more rights; for
the first time he/she may have a counsel at the first investigation by the police. This is the guarantee, for the same time,
that such a statement may be used in court proceedings, too.
Despite all the changes, this form of organized crime has
not been satisfactorily dealt with, either in the provisions of
substantive law or in the penal policy. In view of the experience of other countries facing the problem, two legislative
options are open, as follows:
34 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
- First, to introduce in the Penal Code of FRY trade in
human beings as a separate offence starting from the definition of the Protocol. The definition should contain, as a minimum, the following elements: the offence itself, recruitment,
transportation, transfer, accommodation on reception of an
individual; the means: use of force or threat of use of force or
other forms of coercion, abductions, intimidation, deceits,
abuse of power or position of vulnerability of a person, and
the purpose (aim) of the trade: forced labor or service, slavery, slave-like position or servitude. Such a proposal is contained in the draft Criminal Code of FRY. The states should
treat trade in human beings as a separate criminal offence in
such a way that its definition would cover all the form of trade
in human beings.
- Another possible option would be to enact a separate law
against trade in human beings, or separate laws against all the
forms of organized crime or the crime that is particularly
dangerous, such as Law against money laundry, Anti corruption law, etc.
The above stated calls for several recommendations on
concrete actions and measures that need to be taken, both as
a strategy for prevention and actions on uncovering, and control of that phenomenon, which would be in line with the
standards set by the international documents.:
- Incrimination of trade in human beings within criminal
legislation, , in anticipation of more stringent sanctioning of
perpetrators in cases of victims who are minors; specifically
in criminal proceedings, apart from certain possibilities
opened under the new process legislation of FRY to protect
the victims in criminal proceedings, it would be necessary to
insist on the changes of criminal proceedings to enable the
use of modern audio visual devices for testimonies of victims,
children in particular d;
- Offering appropriate support, assistance and protection
of victims, particularly during the criminal proceedings, when
they appear in the capacity of witnesses;
- Development of the rehabilitation programs and social
reintegration of the victims;
- Organization of education programs for all who deal in
practice with the problem - in the sphere of education, health
care, police, judiciary, social care etc., as well as children
themselves (in schools or beyond) and their parents;
- Awareness campaigns among the citizens on the phenomenon of trade in human beings via media and other campaigns;
- Elimination of the causes leading to the phenomenon of
trade in human beings;
- Establishment of cooperation among state authorities on
the one hand and non-government organizations on the
other, at the level of every country, and then their linkage with
the relevant entities in other countries of the region and
beyond;
Above all they should undertake stabilization of their own
countries to reduce the number of people who chose to
embark upon risky roads of illegal migration, and particularly the trade in human beings, prostitution, etc.
- Media should do far more, in terms of better quality of
their coverage of the phenomena of all the types of organized
crime, hence trade in human beings. Apart from correct and
timely information, the media could help in the education of
wider public about potential dangers and situations that may
confront any citizen in the Region. This is called for by the
need to harmonize terminology (thus instead a "prostitute"
the term "victim" could be used, etc.). It is particularly important to avoid sensational approach to these topics, specially,
avoidance of abuse of these phenomena, and within it manipulations with ethnic or racial descent of the victim namely
political adherence of traders or users of the services for political settlements and fanning of inter-ethnic and racial hatred.
With the view to the accomplishment of those tasks it is necessary to proceed with training (various forms of training,
workshops, summer schools. camps, etc.) for journalists, but
also exchange of data between the media in the Region.
(3) Drug trafficking
- Implementation of a wider research to get more precise
data about the predominance, structure and characteristics of
trade in human beings, particularly women and children, to
enable drafting of the policy of confronting that social evil.
Stability Pact announced establishment of a Regional
information center to help, in cooperation with Interpol, suppresses this type of crime.
The activities conducive to control of illicit trade in human
beings, the following activities would have to be undertaken
at the level of the Region:
- One of the important issues is legalization of prostitution. Public debate should be launched at both the national
and regional levels. The following arguments should be examined, in particular in the light of reglementarism, namely the
attitude that prostitution is a "necessary evil" that could be
controlled: guarantee of the right to prostitutes that would
enable them to legally approach the state authorities; to bring
under control (financial, security, medical and others) the
prostitution business; the struggle against trade in human
beings would become more successful.
- The role of the politicians is extremely important,
because it is them who should support and initiate legal and
institutional reforms to help control trade in human beings.
From an originally marginal activity within criminal
offences, drugs turned into the most prominent activity of the
modern transnational organized crime. Simultaneously, the
aspiration to establish a global mechanism of social control
narcotics was present throughout the 20th century. Hence,
the ban on manufacture, marketing and trade, and to some
extent also consumption of drugs is contained in a number of
UN documents. Between 1912 and 1988 even thirteen different multilateral agreements were concluded, limiting manufacture, controlling the turnover, particularly illicit international trade and prevention of drug abuse. With the adoption
of the Uniform convention on opiate drugs in 1961 and the
Convention on psychotropic substances in 1972 the efforts
made thus far were unified and a global system of drug prohibition was established, that was strengthen even more by
the adoption of the UN Convention against illicit marketing of
drugs and psychotropic substances in 1988. The international community is trying to find ways to limit the accessibility of
opium and other drugs (cocaine, cannabis and synthetic
drugs) because it became evident that no state can tackle this
problem alone.
Drugs became very important for the global economy.
Industry of drugs turned into a single most profitable planetary economic activity, and in estimating its profits, the conservative figure is 500 billion dollars a year. This is, for
instance, equal to an annual profit of the textile industry. The
estimates of the volume of capital earned in the drug industry
that is «laundered» and invested into legal economic flows
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 35
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
ranges around 65-70%.
Ensuring the legality for the capital accumulated through
drug business (operation known as «laundering» or «recycling») falls in the financial operations that everybody desists
but hardly anyone resists the temptation because of high commission and highly attractive for the banks of poor, island,
small off-shore states but equally for the renowned and the
oldest banks of reputation in the world.
The Yugoslav society was faced with the problem of drug
addiction in the second half of the 60s. The first groups of
young marijuana and psychedelic addicts, were followers of
mere imitators of hippy subculture. Opium, in its raw form
could have been easily bought at the markets and in the villages of southern Macedonia, where predominantly Turkish
population grew opium pops and used opium on highly festive occasions, and traditional rituals. The addicts themselves
sporadically brought in psychedelic drugs primarily from the
Netherlands and Great Britain. Marijuana, on the other hand
was procured by students (mainly Palestinians) from friendly,
non-aligned, near east countries. The local criminals did not
interfere in drug dealings, considering it a low profit and risky
novelty.
At the end of 70s heroin appeared in the market of ex
Yugoslavia, coming from Turkey and shortly eliminated all
others that had been used before. In those years all the markets of drugs in Europe and USA offered a high quality heroin coming in from the Middle East That politically quite unstable region, where opium used to be grown for centuries, high
quality heroin deliveries started (No.4), thanks to a new processing technology and entrepreneurs. Sicilian-MarseillAmerican mafia that was protected not only by the ruling
structures in the region, but also CIA and KGB ran the organization of that new lucrative business. Macedonian opium
36 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
disappeared from this market because of high police alert,
and heroin manifested numerous «advantages» for the users
because of much easier consumption (intravenous or nasal).
Marijuana also disappeared from the local marker and high
quality locally grown marijuana appeared- from the Adriatic
isles from Croatia and southern Montenegro. Heroin trafficking was taken over completely by criminals, who became
better organized, although a major hierarchical structure of
the organization has not evolved, yet - rather groups structured like classical gangs. Heroin supply was taken over completely by the Albanians from Kosovo and southern Serbia.
Predominance of heroin resulted in violence growth, particularly cross firing, but also a steep increase in property crime.
At the end of 80s the volume of heroin market was estimated
to 10.000 consumers, of whom one third accounts for heavy
addicts.
Major changes occurred in the nineties at the drug market
in former Yugoslavia. After the break up of Yugoslavia and
wars in Croatia and BiH, strongly structured and better
organized criminal groups appeared, although the bandit
model predominated. Due to mounted nationalistic conflicts
and tensions the Albanian mafia withdrew from this market
and directed its activity to the European countries/ Nowadays
the Albanian mafia has complete control of drug market in
Check Republic, Switzerland, partly in northern Italy,
Belgium and southern Germany and ranks among better
organized and particularly brutal mafia organizations in
Europe. A lot has been written about the ties of the Albanian
mafia and KLA (OVK), about purchase of arms with heroin
money, and the role they got, following NATO intervention in
the political and economic life of Kosovo, but little has been
done to change it. At the drug market in Serbia the Albanian
mafia is not present to a significant extent, but is indirectly
involved in provoking instability in Southern Serbia. The old-
est (and most influential) family members who control heroin business are still living in the village of Veliki Trnovac.
The heroin market in Serbia alone, is estimated at 10,00012,000 heavy addicts and around 30,000 occasional; consumers, so that daily demand ranges between 2 and 3 kg,
which makes an annual volume of 700-1000kg. Police
seizures of heroine during the nineties were between 10kg
and 15kg a year. Although it may be said for the heroin market to be well supplied and even saturated there are no firm
indicators that any organized group of criminals managed to
gain domination or control. Heroin comes via multifold smuggling channels, developed in the 90s, when due to UN and EU
sanctions the ruling nomenclature systematically encouraged
and organized smuggling of petrol and derivatives and consumer goods. Heroin is purchased mainly in Istanbul, and in
the last couple of years several groups were discovered and
arrested of 5 to 8 members, of Yugoslav but also Bulgarian,
Turkish and Slovenian nationality to disperse upon completion.
Marihuana is the predominant illicit substance at the market of drugs in Serbia; during the nineties it experienced a
boom, particularly among the adolescent population. The
drug market has been dominated since mid-90s by marijuana,
coming from Albania via Montenegro. The penetration of the
Italian mafia groups into Albania. (N'drangeta and Sacra
Corona Unita) turned the southern, costal parts of that country into the region of high quality marijuana region.
«Albanka» has quickly become dominant on the European
market. Local criminal groups closely cooperating with the
Italians and with the Albanian producers control the trafficking in Montenegro. Next to marijuana synthetic drugs, but to
a smaller degree are present on the market - EXTC (ecstasy)
and amphetamines, and cocaine likewise, which is quite costly (50-70 Eurs) hence accessible only to selected members of
the criminal elite and folk music stars (turbo-folk).
Lack of any consistent prevention program for prevention
of drug abuse, poor status of preparedness of social oversight
authorities for suppression of drugs and slow reform process
have a consequence of perpetuation of poor living conditions,
low standard and overwhelming poverty, speak of the dimension of the problems of drug abuse that may escalate in the
near future.
Drafting a valid strategy of social control of drugs
becomes an imminent imperative. A balanced approach
should underlay such a strategy along the following recommendations:
- Legal reform - separation of production and trafficking in
drugs from abuse, where the penal policy should be more
stringent for producers and traders and police and judiciary
repressive measures; differentiation of legal sanctions by
types of drugs and quantities seized. Thus, the judiciary
would be in a better position;
- Reform of specialized police forces for drug control;
- Formulation of a prevention plan for both local communities and the state as a whole; identification of specially vulnerable groups - youth, women, refugees, war veterans, etc.,
and elaboration of targeted preventive actions on their
behalf.;
- Affirmation of "damage reduction" strategy for the
addicts - prevention of contagious diseases, free syringes,
therapeutic community program, etc..
(4) Cyber Crime
The differentia specifica of cyber crime relative to well
known and studies forms of crime is a relatively short time to
learn the skill needed for the commitment of criminal acts in
that area, modest material and human resources relative to
the damages inflicted or to illicit profit that may be earned
plus no need for presence at the scene. It is not always clear
whether a criminal act is at work or not, thanks to shortcomings in legal systems and finally it is difficult to uncover even
more to evidence.
Internet crime could be defined in the following manner:
«Internet crime is a criminal act the subject and object of
which is Internet as a Global computer network committed by
computer trained individuals, whose aim is to cause harmful
effects or acquire illicit material gain.» The recommendation
of the Council of Europe on cyber crime No. R (89) 9, which
gave birth later to the Convention against cyber crime, stated
the following: cyber fraud, computer forgery, computer damage, cyber sabotage, unauthorized access, unauthorized
input, reproduction of protected computer program and
unauthorized reproduction of protected computer protected
topography, with the option list, enumerating the change of
computer data or computer programs cyber espionage, unauthorized use of computers, computer programs and topography. Since all the classical elements applicable to criminal act
and their perpetrators who use Internet as a medium it could
be said that computers and Internet are tools only in the
hands of a skillful criminal. Social threat ranges from the
smallest one, when heavily paid Internet time is stolen to the
jammed information flaw at the National Internet backbone
of Telekom Srbija for seven days resulting in the loss of
840,000.00 Dinars.
Cyber crime in the present-day Serbia, and in the whole
region of the Western Balkans, is not a notion reserved for
the narrow professional public and occasional incidents.
Criminal reports against unknown perpetrators of crime
linked to Internet will be growing daily, because Internet
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 37
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
criminals have knowledge, competence and equipment ten
years ahead of the authorities that should investigate and persecute them.
The implementation of the existing legal norms may yield
some results targeted to specific and general crime prevention. However, new material and criminal regulations are
called for and the soonest possible. Finally, the skill of the
perpetrators of those criminal offences could be views, based
on the observations made so far, only through a direct or
eventual deliberate intent, since the perpetration of such
crime required specific high ranking knowledge that under
specific circumstances is deliberately applied to accomplish
some illegal purpose.
An efficient prevention, investigation and filing of proceedings against the perpetrators of criminal offences have
been additionally burdened by their transnational character
Evidently, the member countries of European Union, Council
of Europe, and the United States of America have taken steps
to control cyber crime primarily at the technical level and
then legal. No doubt that without a safe cyber space there will
be no major foreign investment, or efficient cooperation
among the countries of Western Balkans.
UN Convention against transnational organized crime is
of special relevance to cyber crime, with its additional
Protocols, Palermo , as the Convention of the Council of
Europe on cyber crime (Cyber crime), adopted in Budapest,
23. November 2001.
The criminal legislation of Yugoslavia, Serbia and
Montenegro, anticipated no criminal offences treated by the
Convention on cyber crime. Thus, the draft Criminal Code of
FRY of the year, 2000 specified the following cyber crimes:
cyber fraud, cyber sabotage, cyber espionage, data forgery,
fraudulent legal transactions in processing data and change of
data; however, it was not approved in the meantime. Member
states of the federation, according to the present
Constitutions of FRY, have no competence to regulate the
subject issue, since Article 77 stipulated the competence of
the federation in technical, technological and communication
systems, where computer systems certainly belong. Of legal
texts relating to computer law, and of relevance for this topic,
it is worthwhile to mention the quoted Bill on electronic signature and electronic transactions of FRY. That is to say that
in future, when establishing the union of Serbia and
Montenegro, the latter should be introduced to direct struggle against this type of crime.
The provisions of the Law on criminal proceedings of
FRY, which entered into force on 28 March 2002 of relevance for the struggle against cyber crime are contained in
Article 232 of the Code, which stipulates that the investiga-
38 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
tion judge, at the written and supported proposal of the state
prosecutor may order surveillance and recording of telephone and other conversation or communications, by other
technical means in case of a grounded suspicion that they
themselves or with other persons committed an offence with
the characteristics of organized crime (among other things
forgery and »money laundry«). Such powers enable the compilation of communication data, as anticipated in the provisions of the Convention on cyber crime.
Stated briefly and to the point, the personnel of the
Interior of Serbia are completely helpless to face this new
type of crime. The reasons are first of all the terrible heritage
of the past decade, when the law enforcement officers were
brought to the situation of lack of any interest in resolving
offences in certain areas, further their total or predominant
cyber of Internet illiteracy and finally lack of any understanding for the nature of Internet crime and criminals, that are
indispensable for a successful operative work; yet another reason is reflected in a rather scarce or completely inadequate
technical equipment of the organs of the Interior to discover
and persecute hackers;: except a couple of integrated systems
for tracing and persecuting hackers at the national level, dealing with keeping criminal records of citizens, citizenship, permanent residence and the similar, the computer equipment of
OUP offices is practically non-existent ; all the stated automatically goes for public prosecutors and courts, as the next
links in the chain of the criminal legal system. The following
recommendations could be offered with the view to raising
level of efficiency in suppressing this type of crime:
- It is necessary to specify a special group of criminal
offences in the amendments to the Criminal Code relative to
cyber crime .
- Penal policy of local courts should be strengthened to be
in the function of prevention.
- Organizational changes are needed in the persecution
bodies, such as: establishment of a special unit of the Interior
of Serbia with headquarters in Belgrade, Niš and Novi Sad, as
the main nodal centers of the Serbian Internet space ; establishment of a special prosecutor' s office with the District
prosecutors in Belgrade, Niš and Novi Sad to deal with this
problem .
- For better effects of special and general prevention a special criminal court panels should be formed with the District
courts in Belgrade Niš and Novi Sad, as Internet development
centers in Serbia.
Part III
RECOMMENDATIONS
T
he general framework of strategic recommendations of
this Report are the views of the Conference on organized crime in Southeastern Europe, held at the ministerial level in London, 25 November 2002, as the largest
gathering on the Balkans after the Dayton conference in
1995. On that occasion it was clearly established that:
- Organized crime is one of the biggest threats to democracy, prosperity and long-term stability in the Region
- Organized crime is to blame for violence in daily life, in
the streets, and big quantities of heroin, illegal weapons, and
illegal migrants moving through the Region to the European
Union. (Politika, Beograd, 26 November, 2002, A1, A2).
Further to The London statement on combating the
organized crime in Southeast Europe, proclaimed strategic
partnership between EU and Southeastern Europe. That partnership is indeed vital and serves both sides interests in freedom, security and justice. That is why all the measures should
be taken to implement that strategic partnership, and it covers, as was said in the London statement a close cooperation
and coordination of the countries of Southeastern Europe
and EU in the following domains:
- Suppression of crime at its source, by persecution of
criminals in their local areas and struggle against corruption;
- Suppression of crime in transit, by curbing the network
going through Europe and beyond and by discovery of illegal
arms and other materials and dirty money;
- Struggle against crime at destination, including confiscation of proceeds from the criminal activities.
Special attention in strategic partnership of EU and the
countries of Southeastern Europe and Western Balkans alike,
should be devoted to the following forms of organized crime:
- Illegal immigration and trade in human beings,
- Trafficking of narcotics and arms,
- Large cross-border crime in other forms,
- Corruption.
Priorities established in these areas of action in
Southeastern Europe, are as follows:
- Activities conducive to raising the European standards in
the struggle against crime within the Stabilization and
Association Process to EU (SAP); by institution building and
enactment of laws in keeping with the European standards,
taking care that the progress in the internal affairs would not
jeopardize judicial system; implementation of an anti-corruption strategy in cooperation with the civil society as well as
anticorruption laws; strengthening the capacities for financial
investigations, money laundry control and seizure and confiscation of everything earned by criminal activities; provision of
practical and technical means to agencies and government
institutions to take decisive actions against the individuals
and criminal groups; ensure better cooperation, exchange of
information and coordination among relevant agencies and
institutions in each of the countries, etc.
- Further improvement of regional cooperation through
the exchange of best practices in meeting the obligations
towards EU, the information gained through the improved
internal cooperation between agencies suppressing crime;
ensuring consistency between countries' and Region-wide
new laws that are in line with the European standards for
cross border cooperation, linking of judiciary and mutual
legal aid and exchange of information in suppression of crime
at the regional level.
- Building public support for the action against crime, by
means of corruption control in state institutions and support
to the development of strong and independent media; promotion of permanent message to the public about the benefits of the struggle against crime and stressing the fact that it
strips the funds off the governments, constraints the international investment and trade, brings about drop of living standards of the citizens in the region.
- Within the legal framework it would be necessary to
ensure an adequate legal background to act against groups,
individuals, and particularly state officials implicated in the
criminal activities. It is also necessary to create conditions for
seizure of resources and gains, protection of victims and witnesses, suppression of corruption, supervision of police and
judicial independence.
- Support and encouragement at the national and regional levels, public debates and campaigns against the organized
crime under the motto Stop corruption! Stop mafia! The campaign should actually spur up the interest and information to
the public about predominance of organized crime, damages
and threats it poses, but particularly to exert pressure on the
politicians to get rid of the cooperation with the criminals but
also to pursue an active policy of suppression of organized
crime. One of the major issues is legalization of prostitution,
which should be subject of a public debate at both national
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 39
ORGANIZED CRIME IN WESTERN BALKANS
and regional level.
- Since there are no systematic interdisciplinary research
or compilation, storage and processing of data about outburst
of terrorism and organized crime, it is necessary to set up
National centers for research of violence and organized crime
with the help of national and foreign donations and establishment of Western Balkans Network for research and education on terrorism and organized crime (WBN). WBN
would recruit researchers from independent institutes, and
governmental ones and university or NGOs with the view to
enhancing research, public information and capacity building
of researchers and those directly involved in combating
organized crime (politicians, NGOs, leaders, diplomats, law
enforcement officers, military personnel, journalists, etc.)
.WBN would cooperate with the Regional center, which was
initiated by the Stability Pact in Bucharest.
- A regional framework should be set up for exchange of
experience. To that end and ad hoc summer school might be
started, alternately in each country of the Region, the official
founders to be governments and NGOs in the countries of the
40 forum d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 .
region. That school should be primarily concentrated on
young people, the incoming generation and the media,
NGOs, political parties, armies, law enforcement officers and
diplomats in the countries of the Region.
- Enhanced activity on the part of NGOs in that area,
should inter alia upgrade the level of cooperation with the
state, particularly the Police. However this is difficult due to
the fact that NGOs are not ready to cooperate with them, particularly the Police because it is one of the instruments of
authoritarian regimes or the main agents of violence. This is
most evident in Serbia. Therefore, reconciliation projects
need to be launched under the circumstances, namely building of mutual confidence between NGO and the Police. Also,
within the Ministry of police, Councils for promotion and
oversight of respect for human rights should be formed.
Human rights curriculum need to be introduced in the training courses for policemen, judges, prosecutors, customs officers and military personnel to learn of the international
instruments in the struggle against terrorism and organized
crime.
d e c e m b e r 2 0 0 2 . forum 41