TIRANA, May 20 – The report on Organized Crime in Western Balkan Countries, published on Monday as part of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI) concluded that all major cities and ports in Albania serve as centers for the production or transfer of narcotics to European countries.
For several years, Albania has become an important transit point in the Balkans for heroin and cocaine trafficking, and continues to be the main source of cannabis trafficked in the EU.
Further on, the report read, these criminal activities are guided by the gangs in every city, known as some of the roughest gangs in Europe. Many of these Albanian criminal gangs have strong ties to politics and have built money laundering schemes through construction businesses, fuels, hotels, etc.
The report also scans the country’s major cities and ports which serve as important points for cannabis, cocaine and heroin trafficking by criminal gangs.
Among them were Shkodra, Vlora, Saranda, Durres, Elbasan, Fier, Kurbin, Lezha and, last but not least, Tirana, the capital.
Shkodra is a problematic area for organized crime, as it is an important hotspot for cannabis trafficking. Criminal groups in the city are involved in the trafficking of human beings, money with high interest rates, giving fines, as well as trafficking of drugs and immigrants. There are at least four powerful criminal clans in this city, and most members of these groups hold family ties to each other. These mafia-style criminal families are thought to have strong links with criminal groups in other areas of the country, as well as in Kosovo and Montenegro. They are thought to be related to diaspora groups in Western Europe, as well as politicians and political parties. By the end of 2018, five people were killed and two were abducted in Shkodra, marking the latest wave of violence in this city.
Concerning Durres, the report mentions its port being an entry point for the passing of containers coming by ship from Latin America. Drugs go to Italy hidden in buses, cars and trucks, while large loads of drugs arrive with containers. A truck driver was arrested on March 28, 2019 with two kilograms of pure heroine he had hidden in his body. In February 2018, the Albanian police confiscated a load of 613 kilograms of cocaine coming from Colombia in a container full of bananas. The increasingly frequent use of scanners (including the Port Control Unit supported by the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs – UNODC) could create opportunities for more efficient port control by police and customs, but on the other hand, a customs official said in an interview that senior officials sometimes “discourage” their subordinates from controlling certain cars.
Next in line in the report was Vlora, Albani’s second biggest port.
Concerning Vlora, its proximity to Italy has made this area a starting point for speedboats used for trafficking, especially for cannabis, which until recently was cultivated in large quantities in this province. For many years, criminals from Vlora have been moving to Italy and Spain, where they continue to deal with illegal activities. Recently, this city was shocked by a series of murders (including the murder of the head of a criminal group, Edison Harizaj in November 2018), appearing to have been the result of a struggle for controlling markets outside of Albania, as well as murders for revenge among criminal groups. It is thought that the criminal activities in Vlora and its suburbs are also due to the cooperation between the criminals and the police, as well as the protection by some politicians.
Continuing, Saranda is said to be a trafficking center and a hotspot of illegal activities. Traffickers also use mules to pass drugs (mainly cannabis) across the Greek border. Various sources told the GI that local police and police officers know who are the main traffickers, but have taken orders from their bosses not to stop their activities. Forty-three traffickers are thought to pass drugs – mainly heroin and cocaine – through the Qafe Bote border, where scanners are missing. There are rumors that most of these drugs go to the Greek port of Igumenica, and then towards South Italy.
The criminal groups in Elbasan are involved in cannabis, heroin, and recently also cocaine trafficking. In 2015, a drug lab used for cocaine production was discovered in a village in Elbasan. Police seized 115 kilograms of cocaine, 359,000 euros, weapons, and 11 people were arrested – including two Colombians. It is said that the city is the basis of two of the most powerful criminal groups in Albania, and both gangs are involved in the cocaine traffic towards Western Europe and the United Kingdom.
Fier links Middle Albania to the country’s south. It is said that criminal groups in this province are closely linked to criminal networks abroad (especially in Western Europe and Latin America) as well as politicians in Albania. Some of the criminal groups are also characterized by strong family and social ties.
A source who knows the area well told the report authors that “these groups are very violent, have a sophisticated organization, and have close ties to politics, and all these factors make Fier criminal organizations untouchable.”
The criminal groups’ main illegal activities in this area include trafficking and drug processing (it is said that there are several heroine labs in this city), blackmailing (including photos or videos of politicians with prostitutes or taking drugs), and money laundering (especially with gas stations, casinos, bars, restaurants and hotels) in Fier and the coast.
The Kurbin area is located along the highway connecting Tirana with Lezha, while one of the area’s main villages, Fushekuqe, is located on the Adriatic coast. This makes this province an ideal place for drug trafficking to Italy. One of the most troublesome cities in the province of Kurbin is Laà§i. Criminals from this city have been named as dangerous and violent persons, and it seems that other crime groups in Albania did not trust the criminals from Laà§, according to the report.
Concerning Lezha, the report says it has an exit to the Adriatic, including the port of Shengjin. Criminal groups from Lezha have been active in human trafficking, as well as drugs and weapons trafficking. Some of them are also active abroad, especially in Italy and the Netherlands. These groups launder money in the area, particularly through real estate, tourism, bars, restaurants and gas stations. This area is also known for families involved in criminal activities and closely related to politics. It turns out that some MPs from this area are implicated in organized crime, and one of them was even expelled from parliament for this reason.
Tirana is considered a meeting point and contact point where criminal groups from other areas of the country meet to connect with each other, or with government officials and law enforcement forces. Criminal groups in Tirana function more as support for criminal activities abroad, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Kosovo and the United Kingdom, but also have links to Turkey and Latin America. The main activities of these groups are drug trafficking, blackmail, unlicensed gambling games, money laundering, fining businesses and contracted killings.
