Larger drug seizures in the Western Balkans

The seizure of five tonnes of marijuana in the village of Konjuh, near Krushevci in Serbia, was é, according to Interior Minister Ivica Dacic ʹ the largest amount of drugs ever discovered in this country.

Its value was between seven and tenm euros.

Drugs arrived there from Northern Macedonia, while among those arrested there is also a local official of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, on whose property the cannabis was found on January 29th.

This was not the first case to raise doubts about possible links between individuals involved in drug trafficking and people close to power, though authorities rejected those claims.

Free Europe Radio prepared a summary of the largest drug seizures in Serbia and international operations in which Serbian citizens were also arrested.

Two tonnes of cannabis in Belgrade's Zemun

Two tonnes of cannabis were seized in August 2025 in Belgrade's Zemun.

The Office of the High Public Prosecutor announced in January that this operation and other information led to the recent seizure in Konjuh.

Northern Macedonia: Smuggling in the mask

Police and prosecutors in northern Macedonia raided several locations in Skopje and Strumica and seized dozens of our medical cannabis.

The operation followed a record five tonnes of marijuana in Serbia, which was said to have originated from a licensed factory in Skopje.

Cultivating the medical cannabis is legal in northern Macedonia.

Health Minister in this country, Azir Aliu, said the current law has serious weaknesses when it comes to controlling companies and warned a new legal solution.

Over a ton of drugs on the Jovanjica organic food farm
In November 2019, Serbia's police discovered an illegal laboratory for the production of cannabis at the Jovanjica organic food farm near Stara Pazova, near Belgrade.

At the time, 1.6 tonnes of marijuana were seized as farm owner Predrag Koluvija and employees were arrested.

The Prosecutor for Organised Crime accused Colulija of running a criminal group, with the help of several members of the police, the Security and Information Agency, and the Military Intelligence Agency, who, according to the indictment, provided confidential information to him and provided him with the farm.

The trial is still under way, while 18 persons are charged, including six members of the security services.

The Serbian Progressive Party denied involvement in power in this case.

Police inspectors who led the search for the Jovanjica plantation discovery were dismissed in August 2023.

Cocaines From Ecuador and Brazil

At the end of November 2024, Serbia's police arrested eight members of the so-called “Balkan Cartel”, suspected of smuggling cocaine.

The Prosecutor for Organised Crime in Serbia announced that among them was director of the urban public transport company's duty in Novi Sad, Mladen Papovic.

Some of them were arrested in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Mitrovica of Srem, while one Serbian citizen was arrested in Ecuador and another in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia's police suspect that this group stands behind cocaine shipments, in large quantity from Ecuador and Brazil to Europe.

The prosecution also links them with the seizure of 505kg of cocaine in a container from Ecuador, discovered at the Ploca Port in Croatia in March 2021.

The prosecution stated that through this action, one of the most powerful criminal organisations from the Balkans was destroyed.

The Balkan Charter “represents a network of several criminal groups from the Balkan region involved in smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe.

In Serbia, two charges were filed against persons suspected of being members of this group.

Network of smuggling in the hands of Montenegrin clans

Cocaine is the most smuggled drug by criminal groups from Montenegro.

From 2017 to 2021 alone, police worldwide seized more than 30 tons of cocaine, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime announced in its 2023 report.

At that time it was also said that Montenegrin authorities have identified the Sholar and Kavac clans as powerful organised crime groups and with high-risk “”.

The Montenegrin port of Tivar was identified in a UN report as a transit point for Balkan criminal groups in smuggling drugs from South America, while the particular role of Montenegrin sailors was noted during the seizures and police investigations.

In addition to South America and Montenegro, sequers and arrests of Montenegrin cocaine smugglers were made in many other countries around the world, including the United States, Portugal, Romania and Australia.

Some 200 pounds [200 kg] of drugs in Austria and Spain

Four people were arrested, and more than 80kg of cocaine and 110kg of marijuana were seized in an international operation led by Serbia's police in December 2025.

A Serbian citizen was arrested in Vienna and cocaine worth several million euros was found in his possession.

The suspects were arrested for distributing cocaine and marijuana in Spain, Austria and a part in Serbia.

More than two tons in eight countries

Europol ) European Union law enforcement agency reported in September 2021 that it seized 2.6 tons of cocaine and that it had arrested 23 suspects believed to be members of a drug cartel in the Balkans that smuggled drugs from South America to Europe.

The operation included eight countries: Spain, Croatia, Serbia, Germany, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States and Colombia.

Thirteen people were arrested in Spain and ten in Slovenia, while 324kg of marijuana, 612 thousand euros and 15 luxury vehicles were seized.

It was then reported that members of the group were criminals from Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, and that they had active branches in some European countries.

Drug seized in Kosovo

According to the Kosovo Police, marijuana is the most seized drug in Kosovo during the last decade.

Between 2015 and January 2026, more than 10 tons of marijuana were seized.

Police seized even smaller amounts of other drugs, including hashish, ecstasy, and cannabis seeds and plants.

Police did not specify which operation over the past decade resulted in the largest seizure.

Slaj case, first in Serbia

The final decision in May 2022 against Darko Sbolt to 14 years in prison for smuggling 5.7 tonnes of cocaine from South America to Europe from 2006 to 2009 ended the trial in one of the largest cases of organised crime ever held in Serbia.

According to the decision, Sbolt led a global criminal organisation.

The prosecution said the group smuggled 1.8 tonnes of cocaine into Spain, 2.1 tonnes were found on a yacht near Montevideos in Uruguay, 1.1 tonnes were discovered in Brazil and 700kg were seized by Italy's police.

The prosecution filed charges against Sbolt and others in April 2010, and the trial began in September that year, while he was on the run.

The glade surrendered in March 2014, but it was not known where he was hiding or from. / REL/ Periscopi/