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Press Releases | Western Balkan organised crime NCIS assessment November 2002
Western Balkan organised crime NCIS assessment November 2002

26 November 2002

  1. Most of the available intelligence regarding Western Balkan organised crime in the UK concerns ethnic-Albanians. NCIS produced an assessment of The Threat to the UK from Ethnic-Albanian Organised Crime in January 2002, the key judgements from which are largely unchanged by this latest assessment. Despite widespread concern about the threat posed by ethnic-Albanian criminals, based largely on the experience of other European countries, it was assessed that:
     
    1. Both in terms of scale and impact, the threat posed by ethnic-Albanian organised crime groups in the UK is currently low, but the potential threat remains high. If the pattern elsewhere is to be repeated, a rise in ethnic-Albanian organised crime will be preceded by a noticeable rise in low-level crime, of which there are some signs
       
    2. Ethnic-Albanian organised crime groups, comprising mostly Albanian and Kosovar Albanian nationals are active in various parts of the UK. They are involved in a range of criminal activities, including prostitution, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and low-level crime. They are responsible for a significant amount of low-level crime in London, especially shoplifting, assault and robbery
       
    3. Ethnic Albanian traffickers are known to be heavily involved in the transportation of heroin from Turkey and onto Western Europe and have established a significant presence in some Western European countries - often through the use of extreme violence and intimidation. They may be found occupying supporting/lesser roles in the heroin market in the UK but, based on what we know, they have not yet made significant inroads into drug trafficking. May not yet have the links and opportunities needed to penetrate the market
       
    4. There is evidence that Albanian criminal groups in the UK are colluding with clan/family members in Albania, but no evidence that this is the case with the less criminally sophisticated Kosovar Albanian groups
       
  2. More is known about the activities of ethnic-Albanian and other Western Balkan criminals in the region itself and elsewhere in Europe than in the UK. It is therefore possible to say with a reasonable degree of certainty that:
     
    1. Although smuggling has a long history in the Balkans, recent wars and ethnic conflicts in the Western Balkans have created the conditions for organised crime to flourish and increased the significance of the Western Balkans as a transit route and 'warehouse' for a wide range of illicit commodities
       
    2. Western Balkan organised criminals in the UK are having only a limited impact at present. However, Western Balkan organised crime threatens UK interests, because of its role in facilitating the movement of drugs, precursor chemicals, illegal migrants, trafficked women (for prostitution), illicit cigarettes and firearms through the region and into Western Europe. Overall, the impact of Western Balkan, specifically ethnic-Albanian, organised crime across Europe is significant and growing
       
    3. Western Balkan criminals, especially ethnic-Albanians, have extended their influence over criminal markets by working for and subsequently collaborating with indigenous criminal groups and through the use of intimidation and violence. There is considerable evidence of the use of extreme violence in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia but, as yet, only limited evidence in the UK
       
    4. Western Balkan organised criminals play a key role in transporting heroin through the Balkans and into Europe. Ethnic-Albanian organised criminals, in particular, are significant heroin distributors in central and northern Europe (but not in the UK), and are becoming more significant as traffickers
       
    5. Western Balkan criminals are heavily involved in facilitating illegal immigration, including from Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and China, through the Western Balkans and on to Western Europe, including to the UK
       
    6. The Western Balkans are a source, market and transit region for trafficked women. These women are sold between criminal groups at specific nexus points and are commonly subjected to intimidation and to actual violence. Significant numbers of women from the region are working as prostitutes in the UK, though not all will be trafficking victims, and Western Balkan criminals are taking over ownership of saunas and brothels in London
       
    7. Small arms are smuggled from the Western Balkans to Western Europe, especially the Netherlands. A small number find their way to the UK
       
    8. Corruption enables organised criminals in the Western Balkans to protect their interests and prosper. Local law enforcement relies on assistance from the international community to be effective but this assistance is not always well coordinated
       
  3. While there is comparatively less information, it would seem to be the case that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia appears to play a role in the trade in precursor chemicals. Serbian criminals have sourced precursor chemicals from the UK and France and shipped them to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from where they were sold. UK criminals are sourcing precursor chemicals from the Western Balkans and sending them on to Amsterdam.

Intelligence gaps

  1. There is a need for more intelligence across the board. The following are priorities
     
    1. The extent to which foreign organised criminals are active in the Western Balkans
    2. The structure and membership of Western Balkan organised criminal groups
    3. How illegal migrants are passed between groups operating in the Western Balkans, the methods of payment used, and the extent to which the migrants can choose what happens to them
    4. The capability of Western Balkan criminals to smuggle firearms from the region into Western Europe and the UK. The extent to which this is happening, and the methods used

Recommendations

  1. The UK should continue to support international initiatives in the Western Balkans. The priorities should be adequate border management, more consistent and effective legislation, better intelligence sharing, improved efficiency in the criminal justice system, and improved collaboration between Western Balkan and external law enforcement agencies. Tackling corruption should be a particular priority, since this is central to how organised criminals operate in the region. The following specific actions are recommended
     
    1. Efforts to reduce corruption in the region should be documented and monitored
       
    2. External assistance to local law enforcement should be long-term and co-ordinated not just between UK agencies but across the EU. The UK should collaborate with its EU partners to agree who is best placed to deliver particular assistance. Each piece of assistance needs to be evaluated not just on its own merits but in terms of its contribution to the overall package of international measures targeted at the region
       
    3. Specialist equipment and materials should not be provided without appropriate training and advice
       
  2. Although the direct threat posed by Western Balkan organised crime in the UK appears to be low there is a risk that it is not properly understood. It is therefore recommended that classification should be based on existing ethnic and national groups. More use should be made of the UN-sponsored intelligence units currently operating in the Balkan region to assist with the identification of specific criminal groups or individuals.

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