TIRANA, May 8 – The Albanian Serious Crimes Court sentenced Klement Balili, one of the most prominent international drug trafficking names, to 10 years of imprisonment.
Due to a shortened sentence Balili, whom the court found guilty of four criminal offenses, will be serving only ten years in a high security prison.
Also due to the shortened trial the court process against him was ended in a very short time, starting the moment when this year’s January, as the prosecution had closed the investigation against him, Balili voluntarily surrendered.
The Court found him guilty of the four charges brought forward the Prosecution: “narcotics trafficking, carried out in cooperation in the form of a structured criminal group.” “participation in the structured criminal group,” “refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or false declaration of assets,” as well as “money laundering.”
Balili didn’t say anything during the trial, while his lawyer during the defense speech stated that the prosecution had not brought any evidence that proved his client’s involvement in drug trafficking from Albania to Greece.
His name came out during an investigation that was finalized in early May 2016 through an operation undertaken by Greek authorities in cooperation with the American DEA, where over 670 kilograms of marijuana were seized on the island of Zakynthos in eastern Greece.
A large number of members and leaders of the organization allegedly led by Balili were arrested in Greece and some other European countries, while he himself was able to escape.
Initially, he publicly appeared in Saranda, denying the charges, and then disappeared without a trace. His name, due to and nicknamed by the Greek media as “Balkan Eskobar,” caused a lot of noise even because of allegations he enjoyed political support.
Balili was the director of the Regional Transportation Directorate in Saranda, appointed in 2014. One of Balil’s nephews was then elected mayor of Delvina Municipality, south of the country, under the Socialist Movement for Integration, while his brother was also a SMI coordinator in the country’s South.
The Balili brothers have had numerous commercial activities from transport to those of security of objects, or fishing.
In 2015 they inaugurated a very expensive investment by turning the former Labor Camp of Saranda into a luxury hotel. The inauguration ceremony was attended by senior state officials of the time.
