Over the past two decades, Balkan gangsters have established dominance in the European cocaine market by leveraging their diaspora networks and infiltrating the maritime shipping industry. Initially migrating to Latin America to explore opportunities, these gangs now control the logistics of transporting cocaine from South America to major European cities such as Paris, London, and Berlin. Key figures like Slobodan Kostovski, also known as 'The General', have been instrumental in this operation. Kostovski, a convicted drug trafficker who settled in Brazil, has been trafficking cocaine to Europe for a long period. This rise of Balkan traffickers coincides with a surge in South American cocaine production, positioning them to meet the growing European demand. Authorities are currently struggling to keep pace with the scale and sophistication of these operations, which have transformed Europe into the world's leading cocaine market.
🔊 How have Balkan criminals become the main source of Europe’s cocaine? @gabstargardter looks at the history of these gangs from the 1990s, to South America and back to the streets of Europe https://t.co/uKQOWMZkII https://t.co/ODRv4bpZVK
🔊 Balkan fingerprints can be found on most of the cocaine that enters Europe each year according to US and European counter-narcotics officials. @gabstargardter tells Reuters World News how that’s happened and the struggle authorities have to fight back https://t.co/lpb4HtJwLc https://t.co/E4CI5TWSHB
🔊 Tracking the emergence of the Balkan Cartel and the dominance of Europe's cocaine supplies. On this special episode of Reuters World News @gabstargardter looks at the people flooding Europe’s streets with coke https://t.co/NJ1iSlCMBi https://t.co/76LpGrMOSD
🔊 Balkan gangsters have become Europe's top cocaine suppliers. On this special episode of Reuters World News @gabstargardter explores how they have managed to do this https://t.co/UrCxPTbNmb https://t.co/PoC4n2rK6C
The Balkan gangsters who became Europe's top cocaine supplier https://t.co/pWvQ3slA62 https://t.co/ibCg5U6ugG
🇨🇴 🇪🇸 | The arrest of a high-ranking Spanish police officer for involvement in cocaine shipments from Colombia exemplifies how corruption is a key element in the cocaine supply chain to Europe. Read the full analysis at https://t.co/B3epZ2u6rZ
The dramatic hunt for one of Europe’s most-wanted people smugglers, recorded as it unfolds. BBC journalist, @SueM1tchell, and volunteer aid worker, @GrinderRob go on a search for a crime boss: a people smuggler on the run, whose codename is Scorpion. Intrigue: To Catch a… https://t.co/FpEnoZNAxW
The ascent of Balkan gangs to the upper echelons of the global coke trade has police scrambling to keep pace. Read the full story via @SpecialReports https://t.co/ygDgWQlg0p
Balkan gangsters dominate the logistics of moving coke from Andean labs to street sellers in Paris, London and Berlin, transforming Europe into the world’s No. 1 cocaine market, @Reuters found https://t.co/w2a8OsF3mM https://t.co/DUlnZW3diZ
As South American cocaine production surged over the past decade, Balkan traffickers were perfectly positioned to stoke European demand. They now dominate the trans-Atlantic cocaine trade https://t.co/nMfGQn0aDU https://t.co/Z00hiZp3jw
Convicted drug trafficker Slobodan Kostovski, aka ‘The General,’ was one of the first Balkan gangsters to bet his future on Latin America. The Serb settled in Brazil and has trafficked powder to Europe for a ‘long period of time’ Belgrade police said https://t.co/hGF97K2E9B https://t.co/yhj4JYoAGc
Balkan gangsters rose to the upper echelons of the global cocaine trade by infiltrating the maritime shipping industry and tapping diaspora contacts on both sides of the Atlantic, authorities say https://t.co/WFXNQWziVI
Twenty odd years ago, a group of enterprising eastern Europeans made a long-shot bet on Latin America. Now, they dominate Europe's cocaine trade. This is the story of how Balkan gangsters cornered the world's No.1 cocaine market https://t.co/IQNABc79u9
Balkan gangsters now dominate the trans-Atlantic cocaine trade, authorities say, helping transform Europe into the world’s No. 1 cocaine market https://t.co/VVUdTWQdKb https://t.co/8p7B2K0aY8
Captivating report on how Balkan gangsters have become Europe’s top cocaine suppliers. They now dominate the logistics of moving coke from LatAm to Paris, London and Berlin, transforming Europe into the world’s #1 cocaine market. By @gabstargardter https://t.co/JVs4mfPwVF
Balkan gangsters made an audacious bet on Latin America nearly two decades ago when migrating there to scout for opportunities. Now, they dominate the logistics of moving cocaine to Europe, @Reuters found https://t.co/DgcCS0JUGV https://t.co/sk9XxWyRkd
Absent greater international cooperation and more domestic law enforcement capacity, the Southern Cone is likely to become a larger conduit for European bound cocaine, write @shannonkoneil and @WillGFreeman for Latin America This Week. https://t.co/ezcvsOuIuc