TIRANA, Nov. 23 – The General Prosecutor’s Office has issued arrest warrants for three former high-ranking police officials who had served in the Vlora region as part of an investigation tied to the Habilaj gang.
Prosecutors to suspect the officials in question allowed the Habilaj brothers to grow cannabis conduct their illegal trafficking business in the Vlora area.
Police were unable to arrest their former colleagues, however, as they were unable to locate them, according to the Ministry of Interior, which issued a statement Thursday, saying they were not at home.
The Service for Internal Affairs and Complaints has declared the citizens S. Bode, J. à‡ela and Gj. Kohila wanted at large as of Nov. 22, while working on their detention and arrest.
Former Chief of the Post of the Border Police in Vlora, S. Bode, who has already been associated with the Habilaj brothers in pictures made public by the political opposition, has been already sentenced with imprisonment.
After leaving his post in Vlora, Bode acted as Chief of Police in the city of Shkodra, where he was also directing the inspection sector.
The two other men – J. à‡ela, former Police Director in Vlora and Gj. Kohila, chief of the sector for the fight against organized crime, have been so far issued detaining orders. The official charge against them is inaction towards cannabis cultivation in the district during the time they were in charge – from 2014 to 2016.
Material evidence considered valuable for future investigations have been sequestered from the houses and other premises and have been sent to the Prosecution’s Office.
At this time, the three men are not in charge of any state or police functions. They were discharged from their duty by Minister of Interior, Fatmir Xhafaj, but were to remain available for the necessary investigations against them and the ongoing Habilaj-Tahiri case.
This is only one in a series of investigations and arrests following the revelation of suspected ties between former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri and the Habilaj gang – part of a bigger criminal organization specializing in cannabis trafficking from Albania to Italy.
Tahiri, one of the longest serving ministers of interior, who was in office from September 2013 to March 2017, faced calls for his arrest after his name came up in wiretaps in the case, published by Italians police.
However, he has denied any wrongdoing, saying the request for his arrest is politically motivated.
