Greece battles Balkan organized crime

Droghe

A phenomenon that expanded during the 90’s and early 00’s is the Balkan organized one, composed by groups of people, mainly ethnic related, that commit wide-range narcotics trafficking, slave trade and all kinds of illegal actions that require systematic action and organized method of operations.

According to recent Greek police reports, there is a pervasion of Balkan groups in Greece, mainly originating from Albania, and they are considered extremely dangerous and a peril for the stability of the society. In Athens the Albanians specialize in drugs trade and organized burglaries, with some groups that have been arrested; accounting as much as 250 burglaries in a space less than a year. Moreover Turkish groups tend to associate themselves with illegal immigrants trafficking from the East (Pakistan, Middle East), Romanians with illegal prostitution and Bulgarians with forgeries and scams.

A trend to watch is the use of technology and new techniques amongst the members of these groups such as, the use of the internet as a virtual communication world, satellite phones, and offshore companies to launder capital, counter surveillance and so on. Further more and more Balkan groups use Greek territory as a regional base and invest their illegal funds in front companies such as bars, clubs, strip shows and the real estate.

The Albanian groups according to Greek police sources are the primal threat in the sector of organized crime combat in Greece. The proliferation of weaponry originating from Albania is a major source of concern. There are several reasons that explain the above.

There are regions in Albania such as the Kukes town where virtually thousands of weapons are sold freely on a monthly basis without any restraints. Also the existence of organized crime groups within Greece over the previous years has increased considerably the demand for handguns and submachine guns, a need usually filled by Albanian groups importing these weapons from the North.

In 2001 it was recorded that the majority (Up to 90%) of the heroin sold in Greece was managed by Turkish and Albanian groups. The percentage can be estimated at 97% nowadays, whilst the bulk originates from Afghanistan and it is transferred to Greece via Turkey or Bulgaria. A major issue is the low price of heroin in Greece which is less than 25 Euros per gram; the lowest in Europe. The reason for this is the 500% increase on opium production in Afghanistan since 2001, coupled with the increased concentration of Albanian groups in that field. It would not be risky to estimate that the specialization of Albanian groups in such a trade may have political implications as well. It is interesting to note that over the past 15 years there has been a 1,800% increase on overdose deaths in Greece mostly of young people aged 18-35 years old.

Another sector on which Albanians excel in illegal activity is the burglaries. During the first 9 months of 2007, 17 organized groups were disbanded, 15 of those were of Albanian formation and the rest 2 were composed by Greeks, Albanians and Georgians. In general 25-30% of heavy crime related activity is concentrated in the Albanian community residing in Greece, even though it constitutes less than 2.5% of the total population, excluding Albanians of Greek or Vlach origin.

Cannabis is another drug that is being imported in large amounts from Albania. It is considered of low quality and of very low price in comparison with the local production or that of the Middle East. Presently some 70% of the local cannabis trade is of Albanian origin.

Bulgarian groups tend to concentrate on electronic crime through the use of fake credit cards, document forgery, consumer goods (Mainly DVD’s) and banknote counterfeits. Another expanding trade is the illegal adoption one, whereby Bulgarian groups sell newly born to Greek couples.

Turkish groups dominate illegal immigration routes and regularly import Asians to Greece. Up to 500 immigrants trespass illegally Greek borders each week, and that is only in the Eastern Aegean front of the country. In 2004 it was noted that over one million illegal immigrants are “In transit” from Turkey towards the Western European countries. A third of them it was assumed they would be able to exit the country and head towards the European metropolis mostly, thus expanding the yearly capital profit output of organized crime groups dealing with this illegal industry.

In 2007, at least 100 Turkish citizens were arrested accused of participating in this activity, that it is also associated with document forgery in complicity with Pakistani and Iraqi groups in Greece. Especially in the Athens region, there has been a particular expansion of the reach of the above groups that also run protection rackets within their communities.

The combat of illegal immigration is a top priority for the Greek security forces that have managed to repatriate over 2, 2 million illegal immigrants over the past 15 years, along with 150,000 arrests for narcotic related offences, truly impressive figures for a nation of just 11 million citizens in the outermost end of Continental Europe. Since the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989-91 organized crime became an everyday reality in Greece with armed robberies increasing as much as 500%, along with a flood of narcotics coming from the Northern and Eastern borders of the country. Moreover trafficking became a lucrative illegal trade and a recent police operation codenamed “Vitrin” that resulted in 75 arrests, proved the existence of a well-formatted Balkan group that earned as much as 30,000 Euros per day from the exploitation of the modern day white slavery.

The current article aims to point towards the understanding of underreported news from the Balkans and from Greece in particular. It has to be noted that the country still lags behind the figures relating to organized crime activity than the Western or Northern Europe and this is due mostly to the intense activity by the Greek security forces. In the future more reports could shade more light in the ongoing battle against organized crime that has its own ethnic and political ramifications apart from the unquestionable police interest. Already the Greek authorities are planning ahead in case Kosovo becomes an independent, because it is widely assumed that this will result in the increase of organized crime related activities in the Balkan region.