Fear and loathing at the EU border
An organised criminal network is terrorising migrants across the Balkans. Also—where the hell is Milorad Dodik? Plus: the growing normalisation of far-right rock ’n’ roll in Croatia.
Gooooood morning!
It’s the beginning of April, I’m Tommaso, and I’m happy to be back after a forced break—thanks, Covid. I’ve gotta say it: I missed Balkan Brew, and I missed you all.
The past few weeks have been packed with events, and thanks to Rodolfo, BB hardly skipped a beat. But hey, I didn’t miss too much of the fun—the series of life-changing historical events we’re all being forced to witness as the world spirals into chaos hasn’t exactly slowed down.
This week, Trump pushed ahead with tariffs on the whole f***ing world—including the Balkans. The worst-hit countries in the region? Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.
So yeah, let’s dive into this week’s news. But first:
THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND. The open rate for Balkan Brew has consistently stayed above 60%—which is pretty incredible given how bleak most newsletter metrics are these days. We take it as a sign we’re on the right track.
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Fear and loathing at the EU border
Around a year ago, my colleague at BIRN, Saša Dragojlo, and I started hearing disturbing stories of violence along the Bosnian-Croatian border. At first, they were fragmented accounts—hard to verify, difficult to trace.
We started digging. What we uncovered was an organized criminal network operating inside Bosnia and Herzegovina, one that targets and victimizes asylum seekers.
ARMED AND DANGEROUS. The gang goes by the name BWK. It’s a group of armed Afghans, some carrying Italian IDs. They were previously involved in human smuggling, but as the number of “customers” dropped, they pivoted to a more profitable business model.
KIDNAPPINGS. That’s when the kidnappings started. The gang intercepts people at the border and brings them to secure locations, where they’re held for days. The victims are filmed as they are tortured and abused. Those videos are then sent to their families with a demand for ransom via bank transfer.
POLICE ARE ‘AFRAID’. One of our sources—a Pakistani smuggler from a different group—told us that the police are too afraid to intervene. While a few members of BWK have ended up in prison, most are still walking free.
NOT A PROBLEM. The gang’s violence has only ever targeted asylum seekers. And if you ask me, that’s exactly why they’ve been able to operate so freely—nobody really cares when the victims are migrants.
EYE-OPENING. Working on this story was rough. The amount of violent footage we received from victims was sickening. And yes, I’ve been reporting on migration for years—but seeing, once again, how much violence happens at the borders—and how it proceeds undisturbed at an EU border—still shocks me.
THE WRONG APPROACH. The EU continues to focus on anti-smuggling operations in the Balkans. But that’s not how you stop this kind of abuse. All that does is push smuggling networks further underground, creating an even more dangerous environment for asylum seekers.
Where is he now?
HAS HE BEEN ARRESTED? Nope. Milorad Dodik, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity Republika Srpska, is actually celebrating his freedom by going on a little international tour.
🙈🙉🙊. Interpol declined to issue an international arrest warrant for Dodik, despite recent requests following his trips abroad. According to Dodik and Serbian Deputy PM Ivica Dačić, the reason is Article 3 of Interpol’s constitution, which forbids intervention in cases with a “political background” (???).
AMONG CRIMINALS. After a visit to Israel, where PM Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC, Dodik popped up in Moscow on April 1 to meet another ICC-wanted leader: Vladimir Putin. Then, he casually returned to Banja Luka.
BUT HOW? With two national arrest warrants against him, Dodik shouldn’t be able to travel in or out of the country. But again, borders are lawless places - Klix has a full breakdown of how he pulled it off.
TRYING IT ALL. Dodik is pulling every lever he can. His latest move? Hiring Rod Blagojevich—the former Democratic governor of Illinois, pardoned by Trump after a prison sentence for corruption—as a lobbyist for Republika Srpska.
And now, on to Rodolfo!
The great far-right gig in the sky
Some 280,000 tickets were sold for the concert of Croatian singer Marko Perković in Zagreb on 5 July. It’s — well — pretty big: in fact, it became the biggest-selling concert in world history.
ROCK N ROLL HERO? We all love a bit of rock ‘n’ roll, but Thompson is (or at least used to be) pretty controversial, due to his well-known hard-right beliefs (and lyrics) and support for the Nazi-puppet Ustaša regime in Croatia during WWII.
BUT. Thompson is becoming more and more popular in Croatia, where he’s been increasingly normalised in recent years. If there ever was a Brandmauer against the far-right in Croatian pop music, it looks like it’s fallen.
INTEGRATION. Speaking of Thompson: a young Nepalese worker became a senzacija in Croatia after appearing in a TikTok video singing one of his songs. You can tell she’s perfectly integrated by the way she waves her arms while she sings.
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IN OTHER NEWS.
Students from Serbia are cycling from Novi Sad to Strasbourg to draw the EU’s attention to their protests. Follow their journey here, or on Instagram.
Italy will turn a center it built in Albania for sea migrants into a repatriation hub for failed asylum seekers.
The government of Montenegro has signed two cooperation memoranda with the UAE on tourism. The deals allow real estate development on Velika Plaža near Ulcinj—a highly controversial project.
Dive into the ongoing protests in Turkey with this detailed debate on France24. Politico also dropped a podcast explaining why the EU will probably turn a blind eye to the country’s democracy crisis.
GREETINGS FROM AGRINIO. The town of Agrinio, in southwestern Greece, once thrived on its tobacco plantations: 25,000 families (that’s 90% of the town!) worked in the industry. But after 2000, with smoking in decline across Europe, Agrinio was hit hard. Ekathimerini has a lovely reportage on life in today’s Agrinio—“an introverted town”, as one local put it.
Meanwhile, Albanian TV is airing a show called Albanian Stars of the Diaspora, featuring some of the country’s most successful sons and daughters living abroad. This week’s episode takes us to Milan! And even if we don’t understand everything, it’s still kind of a banger.
AND FINALLY. Only one month to go before the Eurovision Song Contest—and we cannot wait. Albania is going big this year, investing €150,000 (their biggest sum ever) in their entry, Shkodra Elektronike. Fingers crossed!
And that’s a wrap for this week. As always, if you spot a mistake, want to share something with us, or just feel like saying hi (especially to tell Tommi it’s good to have him back!)—you know what to do. Just reply to this email.
You can also reach us on Bluesky: this is us, Rodolfo and Tommaso.
Until next week, take care!
BB