Barcelona has become a key location in an international conflict between two Montenegrin organised crime groups, the Kavac and Skaljari clans, with four members killed or injured in the city in less than a year. Filip Knezevic, Predrag Vujosevic, Millan Milic, and Krsto Vujic were all members of Montenegrin organised crime, according to Mossos d’Esquadra sources.
Catalan police clarify that these incidents do not mean the Kavac and Skaljari clans are fighting for control of Barcelona. Instead, it indicates that several of their members are hiding among the city's residents. The Kavac and Skaljari clans originated in Kotor, Montenegro, and were once part of the same drug smuggling organisation moving narcotics from South America to Europe.
Their feud began in 2014 after a failed cocaine deal in Valencia. Since then, members have sought to kill each other across Europe, with assassinations recorded in Montenegro, Serbia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Greece, Ukraine, and Turkey.
Methods of Violence
“The methods are also known: shootings, car bombs, snipers in some cases, or meticulously planned assassinations,” explained Sasa Djordjevic, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. Djordjevic added that Balkan criminal groups have established bases in other Spanish cities, not just Barcelona.
The Mediterranean coast is attractive to them because “the geography, infrastructure, tourism, and international connectivity create an environment that organised crime likes.” With the recent killing of Vujic in Poblenou, “more than 80 homicides have been publicly linked to the conflict” worldwide, Djordjevic calculated. “Therefore, Barcelona should not be considered an exception, but another European setting in a long-running criminal conflict,” he concluded.
According to sources, the Mossos d’Esquadra believe the four victims were in Barcelona for various reasons: to hide from rivals, escape justice in other countries, seek information on rivals based in the Catalan capital, or conduct business for their organisations. These incidents are considered executions, not shootouts, as attackers fired at their targets at close range.
Police Investigations and Challenges
In all cases, police detected prior planning to locate rivals and choose the moment to act. The Mossos have not arrested any of the killers. Investigators believe these crimes were carried out by professionals who protected their faces from surveillance cameras and left no fingerprints or DNA traces for identification. They also avoided airports, fleeing by road towards France.
Solving these cases will be very difficult, the Mossos admit, relying on collaboration with police forces from other states. Despite the violence in Catalonia in recent months, neither the Kavac nor the Skaljari are dominant criminal organisations in Barcelona. Other mafias, of Albanian or Turkish origin, are more deeply rooted than the Montenegrin groups, the Mossos d’Esquadra clarified.
However, the ongoing conflict between the Montenegrin clans is a central concern for Catalan police. On 14 April, Vujic was killed while having a drink on a crowded terrace in Poblenou. One of the bullets intended for him also injured a woman unrelated to the conflict, a Barcelona resident. This was the first collateral damage. The Mossos see this stray bullet as a clear warning, as the gangs are killing each other, but they are doing it in Barcelona.
