TIRANA, Oct. 3 – Albanian authorities began seizing on Wednesday the properties and assets of the so-called Habilaj group.
Close to the Vlora hospital, a gas station seemingly in the ownership of Artan Habilaj – one of the three brothers accused of international drug trafficking – was surrounded by police tape.
Following the request of the Serious Crimes Prosecution, the First Instance Court of Serious Crimes accepted a few days ago to seize 29 different properties of the Habilaj brothers. The serious crimes,in its request to the court, had argued the seizure of the properties of the three Habilaj brothers on the legal basis of the December 2009 law “on the fight against organized crime, trafficking and corruption through preventive measures against property.”
On the long list of seized property, there are assets belonging to Moisi Habilaj, who is considered as the leader of the group that dealt with the dispatch of large quantities of marijuana to Italy and which, last October, the authorities of Katania hit as part of an Italian-Albanian criminal organization.
Among the assets that are being seized in Vlora are those related to Artan and Florian Habilaj, but also of close friends and family. This includes at least ten apartments with a total value of several hundred thousand euros. Among the sequestered properties are also three buildings, one garage, one plot, four trading units, four other real estates and five cars.
Doubts about ties with the Habilaj group, with whom he is family-related, placed accusations on former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri last year. Investigations against him started after Italian authorities hit the organization in Katania and found that the name of the former minister was mentioned several times in conversations among traffickers.
The prosecution requested the Tahiri’s arrest, but the socialist majority rejected the request, claiming the prosecution had not submitted any evidence to make its case. In May of this year, Tahiri resigned from ihis MP mandate. Shortly thereafter, the prosecution again demanded his arrest, but the court ruled for house arrest, a move that was amended a few weeks later by the Court of Appeals.
Tahiri has denied allegations of his involvement in narcotics trafficking, or that he has links with the Habilaj group. Investigations against him are still ongoing.
