The Spanish police last week, in collaboration with the Guardia Civil, have dismantled a cocaine organization in the Canary Islands. The four suspects are members of the Skaljari clan, a notorious Montenegro crime group known for its brutality. One of them is said to be the leader of the Pink Panthers , an international organization of jewel thieves with roots in the Balkans.

The criminal network had set up a drug line in the Canary Islands with members who remained completely undercover. They stayed in luxury rental houses from which they distributed cocaine to local organizations. In November 2020, officers saw how members of the organization gave 250,000 and 155,000 euros in cash to third parties on different days to launder the amounts.

In the Netherlands, Montenegrins have also been prominent in international crime networks for decades. Montenegrins turned up in the case of the cocaine smuggling of Urk fishermen who picked up drugs at sea. Ranko Šćekić, who was liquidated in Utrecht in 2016, was a Montenegrin.

A feud over a batch of drugs between the Skaljari and Kavac clans of Montenegro has sparked deadly violence in several European countries since 2014. The assassination attempt in which restaurant owner Goran Savic died in Amsterdam in October 2019 is also associated with this feud. Savic was not the intended target, Jovan Djurovic was. He was seriously injured and is considered part of the Serbian Zemun clan.