In the years 1830-1840, Montenegrin and Albanian tribes often clashed with each other. These battles took place along the Zeta and Morača valleys toward Spuž and Podgorica, where Ottoman-Albanian garrisons guarded the border, and north of Lake Shkodër in the Brda region, specifically the Kuči, Piperi, and Gruda tribal zones.

These areas were de jure Ottoman (part of the Vilayet of Scutari), but de facto contested between local Albanian tribes under Ottoman authority (especially Hot, Grudë, Kelmend, Shkreli) and the Montenegrin clans.

Cited from the newspaper “Kourier an der Donau Zeitung für Niederbayern. 1839”:

“Ragusa, July 1st. The Albanians and Montenegrins have once again clashed. The immediate cause was the invasion of Montenegrin territory by the former, resulting in the destruction of fields and the burning of more than thirty dwellings belonging to this warlike mountain people. The Montenegrins were defeated in two skirmishes and forced to retreat on all sides until, in a third, rather significant engagement, they succeeded in inflicting a complete defeat on the Turks, capturing flags, and driving the attackers from their territory. The Albanians lost several hundred men, a great deal of weapons, and ammunition.”

After 1830, the Ottoman Empire tried to tighten control over the semi-autonomous Albanian mountain tribes around Shkodra. At the same time, the Montenegrin Prince-Bishop Petar II Petrović Njegoš (r. 1830–1851) pursued imperialist expansion on Albanian territories.

Similar clashes:

1838–1839: Fighting between Kuči and Hoti/Gruda, with Ottoman reinforcements from Scutari.

1842–1843: New fighting near Spuž and Podgorica, where Ottoman Albanians and Montenegrins exchanged raids.

Summary

The 1840 events reported from Ragusa took in the border region between the Montenegrin tribal highlands (Kuči, Piperi) and the northern Albanian tribes (Hoti, Gruda, Kelmendi), within the Ottoman district of Scutari (today’s border area of eastern Montenegro and northern Albania, around Tuzi, Podgorica, and the Malësia e Madhe).

Reference

https://www.google.se/books/edition/Kourier_an_der_Donau/2kdDAAAAcAAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=0