TIRANA, June 20 – Albanian prosecutors are seeking a long prison sentence for Ermal Hoxha, the nephew of the country’s former communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, and eight co-conspirators who prosecutors say were involved in cocaine trafficking.
In the trial of what has been labeled as the “Xibraka Group” to be held at the Serious Crimes Court in Tirana, the prosecutor has asked for a 13-year prison sentence for Hoxha and 13 to 15 years imprisonment for other members of the group, including two Colombians. In total, 126 years of imprisonment were sought.
Hoxha, 42, and the others were arrested in January 2015 and are accused of creating an organized criminal group that had imported large amounts of cocaine into the country to later be shipped to Western Europe.
A large facility Xibraka in Labinot area of Elbasan County served as a holding and processing center.
The bust, prosecutors said, marked the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Albania, about 100 kilograms in total. Most of the cocaine, in both cut and concentrate form, was found in the warehouse in Elbasan County, close to Albania’s main East-West highway. In addition, approximately 18 kilos of cocaine and about €340,000 were found in the car of one of the Albanian men arrested.
“This was a well-structured group with international ties ranging from Latin America to the Balkans, and Western Europe as a destination. The group was able to secure the narcotics, which were then processed to extract pure cocaine, which was then marketed in the local and international markets. As part of the processing portion, the organization had hired two Colombians,” a police spokesman, Genti Mullai, said at a press conference after the bust.
Albanian police were first alerted to the drug network by their counterparts in Germany, the country that appears to have been the main destination for the finished product, with raw materials originating from Latin America, arriving in Albania mixed in palm oil used for commercial cooking.
Police were on the trail of the criminal group for several months, before they found enough information through wiretapping to move on the accused criminals, local media reported.
