The Serbian flag displayed on packages of cocaine doesn’t prove the traffickers were linked to Serbia. – but the documented activities of Balkan criminal groups in Ecuador make the possibility worth investigating.
Sasa Djordjevic
On July 21, the Italian authorities seized 650 packages with more than 770 kilograms of cocaine at the port of Vado Ligure. The drugs were hidden among pallets of bananas in a refrigerated container from Ecuador.
Concealing cocaine in commercial shipments of fresh fruit, particularly bananas from Ecuador, is a well-known method used by criminal actors, including groups from the Balkans.
The Vado Ligure seizure, therefore, fits a broader pattern of maritime cocaine trafficking into Europe.
In Serbia, however, it wasn’t the size of the seizure or its route that attracted most attention but the Serbian flag displayed on some of the packages.
Although the comments posted under the media reports offer only a snapshot of public opinion, they reveal two recurring reactions.
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