During the past week, Albanian police cracked down on some of the country’s most notoriously famous criminal rings, actively seeking popular names to the international and domestic crime scene, arresting 300 persons and initiating investigations on the 27 people who were arrested under allegations they run four main criminal groups producing and trafficking narcotics.
Police bust five in drug lab in Has, part of Albanian-German drug ring
A drug lab was uncovered by Albanian police on Friday at Has’ Brenog Village in Northern Albania and five people belonging to an Albanian-German drug ring have so far been arrested, three out of which belonging to the family owning the land where the lab was built.
Police reported they sequestered 182.5 kilos of morphine, divided in 175 packages, 22 liters of liquid material, as well as some opium plants, all of which used to produce heroin. Local media reported the lab also contained already manufactured heroin, already dispersed into packages and ready for transport.
According to the reports, the materials came from Turkey through Kosovo and, after being processed in Has, were transported to Albania’s coastal cities to reach Italy and Europe.
The police announced this operation was conducted in collaboration with RENEA, the Kukes police department and also DEA and other international agencies, as the lab was operating internationally for years.
The initials of the five people initially arrested are V. B., F. C., Xh. Sh., M. Sh., and A. Sh., but there is a higher number of people involved, including foreigners, that the police is seeking.
This was the second sophisticated drug lab being discovered in Albania, after the first cocaine lab that was found in Elbasan’s Xibrake Village. In that case, too, the criminal ring imported cocaine from Colombia, extracted it and sold it, mainly, in Germany.
Police crackdown on main Shijak gang amid raids throughout country
On Sunday evening, Albanian police continued its offense on one of the most powerful and active criminal groups in the heroine transport from Albania to Germany and conducted operations to target other similar drug rings.
In Shijak, the police arrested the main Avdyli family members on Sunday: brothers Astrit, Flamur and Shkelqim, as well as their cousin Jasim Avdyli, previously convicted in Italy for killing an Italian police marshall, and H. Hoxha, previously convicted in Turkey for heroin traffic.
Twenty more arrests were reported during the Shijak operation, while police suspects the Avdyli family owned the Has heroin lab that was shut down on Friday.
The Avdyli brothers are being accused for a number of criminal offenses, starting from murder and prostitution to drug trafficking and illegal businesses. They are in ownership of a big number of private enterprises in Albania, among them the luxurious Durres ‘Germany Hotel.’
However, on Thursday the Serious Crimes Court released eight of the Avdyli family arrests to continue investigations outside of custody.
In Durres, a similar operation went down against the former head of the ‘Durres Band’ Lulzim Berisha, who has not, however, been yet arrested as he was not found by the police.
The police operation was in the framework of executing the prosecution’s signed arrest warrant for Berisha and it involved RENEA Forces and other special operational units’ effectives.
According to local media, the police performed a search in Berisha’s home, while he was not there, and seized objects that may serve the investigation, but that cannot be considered illegal.
Berisha, whose case investigation belongs to the same dossier as the Avdyli arrests in Shijak, is reported to be mainly residing abroad, which led the police to believe someone might have leaked information of the upcoming crackdown.
Meanwhile, in Albania’s South, between Saranda and Delvina, another police operation took place against Klement Balili, whose name became famous after his criminal ring was busted in Greece through an investigation involving the American DEA.
Balili has been dubbed the ‘Escobar of the Balkans’ and the Greek authorities have sentenced him with life imprisonment. There have so far been no reports from the police or the media on the operation’s rate of success in capturing him, although the police has been very discreet with the amount of released information.
Balili worked as a state representative in Albania, having been appointed head of transport in Saranda and several police operations against him have failed in the past.
The former US Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu spoke about Balili several times in the past, calling the inability to arrest him “a failure.”
The newly-appointed EU Ambassador to Tirana Luigi Soreca congratulated the series of anti-drug police operations on Sunday evening.
“We welcome the vast anti-drug operation undertaken today in various cities by the State Police. The fight against organized crime and drug trafficking is a top priority for the EU. We expect prosecutions and punishments to continue with lasting results,” Soreca wrote.
Opposition remains sceptic of raids’ success rate
Despite the government’s quoted success figures, opposition representatives maintained their stand that the Socialist government is strongly tied to the country’s criminal rings, saying the police fails to arrest their leaders even when partnering countries show them where they are.
Democratic Party lawmaker Enkelejd Alibeaj said the police is just another of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s propaganda tools and that no criminal ring leaders’ names were part of the 300-people who were arrested.
“The real strongmen are the leaders of criminal organizations that Fatmir Xhafaj and Ardi Veliu’s police not only fail to arrest, but warn them to flee in the other direction of ignoring even when international partner operations identify them as the bosses of organized crime,” Alibeaj said.
