Marcos and Soldado: Colombian Shootout Sheds Light on Balkan Drug Ties – Balkan Insight

According to a police incident report written up in the early hours of April 1, Stanimirovic was found, still alive, beside the road a few minutes after midnight by two officers responding to reports of gunshots in the area. They found him lying on his left side, wearing dark shorts, a red sweatshirt and croc-type sandals, with a blue towel placed on his neck to stem the blood from a wound to his upper jaw.

He was found conscious but he could not pronounce a single word, said the report.

The police followed the trail of blood to Riveras house, where two officers were shot dead.

A few hours later, in Villavicencio Hospital, Stanimirovic was pronounced dead.

Stanimirovic was widely reported to be a high-ranking member of the Balkan Keka group, wanted on cocaine charges, the reports said, in Spain, Germany and Portugal. Spanish authorities, however, told BIRN they had no record of him. German and Portuguese authorities did not respond to BIRN questions.

In Colombia, he was unknown to authorities, his previous entry into the country triggering no alarm bells at the border.

Family holds out hope Stanimirovic still alive

Lawyer Aleksandar Scekic said the Stanimirovic family in Serbia still has no confirmation of whether he is dead or alive.

Nothing has come officially. They hope hes alive, Scekic, the familys lawyer, told BIRN.

The [Serbian] embassy in Washington is trying to get information from Colombia.

Scekic also said Serbian police and Interpol were involved in the case. He disputed reports that Stanimirovic was involved in crime, saying they were inaccurate and that the family has no idea what he was doing in Colombia.

The police, however, say the circumstances of his death point strongly to criminality and likely involvement in drug trafficking.

According to the Meta police commander, Colonel Berdugo, the investigation uncovered a link between Rivera and the Gulf Clan, arguably one of the most powerful Colombian criminal groups active today. That link has never previously been acknowledged by authorities.

Riveras own association with Stanimirovic, therefore, could corroborate what has long been suspected that ties have been established between Balkan cartels and the Gulf Clan, reflecting the growing presence and power of Balkan drug groups in Colombia.

Certain groups from the Western Balkans have moved up the value chain in the past 20 years, from small-time crooks and couriers to becoming major distributors of drugs in networks that stretch from Latin America to Western Europe and South Africa, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, GITOC, wrote in a report in July.

Balkan criminal groups visiting Colombia tread carefully, GI-TOC wrote, travelling without contraband or suspicious quantities of cash, keeping a low profile and rarely staying no longer than a month. They often travel in multinational groups to avoid suspicion, and where necessary use high-quality false identity documents.

According to Felipe Tascon, an expert on Colombias cocaine economy who has worked with the Colombian state and the European Union on the issue, the lack of concrete evidence of Balkan criminal activity in the country likely only reflects how effective and disciplined Balkan criminals have been at keeping a low profile, as well as the relatively low numbers of Balkan visitors compared to other foreign criminal operatives.

We hear a great deal about an invasion of Mexican traffickers that are active here in Colombia, apparently a far greater number than any European group, and yet during my fieldwork in the likes of Tumaco, I have never met a Mexican or even heard a Mexican speaking, Tascon said.

So it is not unreasonable to believe that other nationalities could be here in much smaller numbers without being detected.

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Marcos and Soldado: Colombian Shootout Sheds Light on Balkan Drug Ties - Balkan Insight