A young generation of Albanians are caught between organized crime’s politics, rampant unemployment, and the fast cash of Class A drugs.
It’s January in a rundown suburb of Tirana, Albania’s capital city, and I’ve met up with two local cocaine traffickers just back from a smuggling trip to Germany. Like many young drug crews in Albania, Artan and Luli have shifted from trafficking cannabis to cocaine, because there’s more money in it and it’s easy to get hold of. They tell me they can make around $23,000 by smuggling a kilo of powder into the richer European countries, where the market for cocaine is expanding.
Between machismo tales of brass knuckles and baseball bats, they discuss Rolex watches, fast cars, and beautiful girls. “As you can probably see,“ says Artan, nodding to the sunken, flooded street that has gone unfixed since they can remember, „if you want to go out and get things around here, you’ve got to make the journey to Germany, Italy, or England. Cocaine is proper work.”
Ever since a financial meltdown in the 1990s led to widespread destitution and civil chaos, Albania’s younger generations have found themselves trapped beneath a mesh of poverty and corruption. For some, the drug trade offers an escape from the slums that litter Tirana’s hinterland. But drug smuggling here is nothing new; it’s a trade that runs deep in Albania. Despite being a NATO country on the verge of joining the European Union, Albania has become Europe’s first narco-state.
According to the International Monetary Fund’s definition of a narco-state, as a state ‚where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade‘, like Venezuela, Guinea-Bissau and Afghanistan, Albania is knee-deep in drugs money.
A 2018 US Department of State report described Albania as a home of “rampant corruption, weak legal and government institutions and weak border controls” with drug trafficking, tax evasion, smuggling, and human trafficking the most profitable crimes in country. Drugs are big business here.
This small, mountainous former Communist state on the Adriatic coast is the largest producer of illegal outdoor grown cannabis in Europe. In 2017, police in Albania seized 68 tonnes of weed, around $680 million worth. But the cocaine trafficking is what’s lifting Albania to narco-state status. Over the last decade, as revealed by VICE, Albanian gangs and street crews such as the Hellbanianz have become major players in the lucrative cocaine trade in the UK and the rest of Europe. Albanian gangs have made a name for themselves by selling high purity cocaine at competitive wholesale prices, and contributed to the rising availability and purity of cocaine in Europe since 2012.
Albanian smugglers have established direct supply lines via South America and Europe’s big cocaine receiving ports in Belgium and Holland. In February of last year, police seized 613 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from Colombia as it arrived in Albania’s eastern port of Durres. There has been a concurrent rise in suspected criminals of Albanian origin being killed in South America. In 2017, Remzi Azemi, a Kosovan Albanian and alleged cocaine trafficker, was murdered in a gang-style assassination as he travelled with his family in an armored car in Guayaqil, Ecuador. The year before, Ilir Hidri, another Albanian suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, was murdered in the same city.
Albania is unique in Europe because its drug barons are not renegade outlaws. Instead, they’re heavily linked to those running the country and often in cahoots with the very people charged with chasing outlaws down.
Drug money is an essential part of Albania’s democratic system, because the best way of securing people’s votes is to pay them in cash, and the best generator of cash is the drug trade. A EU-funded study, which ran from 2016 to 2019, found a staggering 20.7 percent of Albanians were offered money or favors in exchange for their vote. In January, it was revealed that cocaine gangs successfully rigged elections by buying votes. Afrim Krasniqi, head of Albania’s Institute for Political Studies, said the role of criminal gangs in the 2017 election campaign was greater than the role of political parties. “Today, there’s a general impression that nobody is able to win elections without support from such groups,” he said.
Because the drug trade is so enmeshed with those in power, British intelligence units have been deployed to Tirana to monitor traffickers. One UK liaison team member told VICE they had clear evidence of shared intelligence being leaked straight back to dealers by Albanian police. The British have been joined by teams from the US, Netherlands, and Italy, all of whom decided to get involved after finding that information they shared with Albanian authorities was ending up in the wrong hands.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s last two interior ministers have both been felled in scandals linked to drugs. The first, Saimir Tahiri is due to stand trial later this year on charges of drug trafficking and corruption. Tahiri’s name was mentioned in a wiretap overheard by Italy’s anti-mafia police in connection with kick-backs, cannabis trafficking and smuggling Kalashnikov rifles. Tahiri denies the charges against him. He was replaced by Fatmir Xhafaj, whose short stint as interior minister ended last year after his half-brother Agron was jailed for seven years for drug trafficking in Italy. Although there is no evidence Xhafaj had any direct involvement in his brother’s crimes, domestic and international political pressure likely led Rama to ditch his minister.
In 2017, Ermal Hoxha was imprisoned for 10 years for his part in an operation to traffic 120 kilos of cocaine from Latin America to Western Europe. Yet Ermal hadn’t climbed up through the criminal ranks from Albania’s slums; he’s the grandson of Albania’s notorious Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruled the country for 41 years until his death in 1985.
No man illustrates the closeness between Albania’s elite and its big drug players, or the story of how this nation is emerging as Europe’s first narcostate, than Klement Balili, a luxury hotel owner, former civil servant, and drug kingpin described on his Greek arrest warrant as the „Pablo Escobar of the Balkans.“ A 10,000-page dossier compiled by the Greek government, and reviewed by VICE, describes his meticulously organized, $1 billion transnational narcotics empire, built on cannabis and cocaine and funneling into countries such as Italy, Greece, Germany and the UK.
Balili grew his empire out of the lawlessness following Albania’s economic collapse in the 1990s, caused by the crash of huge government-backed pyramid schemes. Between $1-2 billion disappeared overnight and ordinary families lost all their savings. According to a 2016 report by the Open Society Foundation, a mixture of high unemployment and low wages mean Albanian gangs have been expanding ever since.
Officially, Balili’s business was in transport, leisure, fishing, and security. In 2014 he was appointed director of regional transport in the seaside resort of Saranda, a well-known drug trafficking hub. Over the last decade, Balili has built a string of luxury hotels on Albania’s stunning Adriatic coast.
In 2015, Ilir Meta, the current President of Albania, cut the ribbon at the opening of Balili’s five star hotel, Santa Quaranta. Joining Meta alongside Balili at the opening party was the then-minister of finance Arben Ahmetaj and Socialist Party MP Koco Kokëdhima….
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmpq89/the-inside-story-of-europes-first-narco-state
BuckZiehsMutter
Jun 09, 2019., 09:10 •
Mafia in Deutschland : „Das ist ein gewaltiges Sicherheitsrisiko“
Comedy Show der Verbrecher Kartelle in Tirana: Die Kommunalwahlen wurden verschoben – Marina Durres – Albanien
Jun 09, 2019., 10:41 •
[…] Albanien: Der Erste NATO „Narco State“ in Europa: „State Capture“ von Verbrechern kontrollie… […]
Council of Europe Cancels Election Monitoring Mission to Albania – Marina Durres – Albanien
Jun 26, 2019., 17:57 •
[…] Albanien: Der Erste NATO „Narco State“ in Europa: „State Capture“ von Verbrechern kontrollie… […]
Gibt es Kommunalwahlen im Mafia Staat Albanien: 13 Oktober? – Marina Durres – Albanien
Jun 27, 2019., 20:31 •
[…] Albanien: Der Erste NATO „Narco State“ in Europa: „State Capture“ von Verbrechern kontrollie… […]
Gjoka
Jul 10, 2019., 17:07 •
Bei einer Drogen Polizei Aktion gegen das Dorf Lazarate in 2017m wurde ein Polizei Buss beschossen, ein Elite Polizist starb. Der Täter Ruhan Hiraj, verbarg sich in den USA unter dem Namen: Sandri Hiraj in den USA, wo er festgenommen wurde, heute nach Albanien ausgeliefert wurde Dash Aliko, Drogen Baron von Lazarate und Berisha Financier Dash Aliku, von der Salih Berisha, Lulzim Basha geschützter DP Politiker baute das Drogen Imperium auf, ist heute für DP Partei immer noch aktiv. Jugend Mord Bande in Lazarate Peinlichkeit der EU Polizei Mission PAMECA III: die dümmsten Kriminellen werden hohe Polizei Chefs in Albanien shpërthyese dhe i municionit”, “Prodhimi i armëve luftarake“, “Kryerja e veprave penale nga organizata kriminale dhe grupi i strukturuar kriminal”, “Pjesëmarrja në bandën e armatosur". Vrasja e efektivit Në datë 24.06.2015, në fshatin Lazarat të rrethit Gjirokastër, Ruhan Hiraj në bashkëpunim me disa të tjerë qëlluan me armë zjarri në drejtim të punonjësve të policisë të repartit “Renea”, të cilët kanë qenë brenda në automjetin e policisë në vendin e quajtur “Pularia”. Si pasojë mbeti i vrarë brenda në automjetin e policisë, punonjësi i Policisë Ibrahim Basha, si dhe janë plagosur punonjësit e policisë, J. I. dhe P. H. Si u arratis dhe u kap në SHBA Ruhan Hirajn fshihej në SHBA duke përdorur emrin Sandri Hiraj. Agjentët e FBI pasi e kanë lokalizuar e prangosën atë në zonën Clinton County të Neë Yorkut në 2017. Ai kishte hyrë ilegalisht në SHBA përmes kufirit me Meksikën, dhe për më shumë se dy vite iu fsheh autoriteteve. Hiraj u ndalua nga autoritetet amerikane si emigrant ilegal në datën 20 dhjetor 2017. Ruhan Hiraj momentin e arrestimit u deklaroi agjentëve të FBI se ai quhej Sandri Hiraj por nga dërgimi i shenjave të gishtave Interpol Tiranës ai u identifikua si një person në kërkim. Pas ndalimit, Interpol Tirana i dërgoi autoriteteve amerikane shenjat e gishtave dhe të dhëna të tjerë për identitetin e të ndaluarit. Përgjigjja që dhanë autoritetet amerikane bindën policinë shqiptare se personi që fshihej me identitetin e rremë Sandri Hiraj ishte Ruhan Hiraj, i shpallur në kërkim ndërkombëtar për vrasjen e efektivit të RENEA-s duke sjellë më pas ekstradimin e tij në Shqipëri.
Ibrahim basha
Ruhan Hiraj
https://shqiptarja.com/lajm/deportohet-nga-shba-22vjecari-i-pwrfshirw-nw-vrasjen-e-efektivit-tw-reneas-nw-lazaratGjoka
Okt 03, 2019., 10:59 •
Drogen Schmuggel der Edi Rama/Ilir Meta Kartelle und aus Vlore: Woche fuer Woche: 2,5 Tonnen Drogen werden von Albanern ueber Bord geworfen, von der Griechischen Polizei gefilmt. Ueber 30 Kilo Heroin, wurden ebenso beschlagnahmt
U mbushën me 2.5 ton kanabis në Vlorë, mediat greke zbulojnë detajet: Ku u fsheh heroina që u shkëmbye në Turqi
Mediat greke kanë publikuar detaje të reja nga operacioni antidrogë që është zhvilluar në ditët e fundit në ishujt në…
Lexo më shumë »Balkansurfer
Okt 08, 2019., 09:19 •
die gefakten Mehrfach Paesse, ID Karten sind nach 10 Jahren abgelaufen! nun herrscht Chaos im Tessalonika Konsult wegen Verlaengerung der Albaner Mafia in Griechenland
navy
Jul 26, 2019., 22:07 •
es gibt sehr viele Britische Medien Berichte Bei einem erneuten illegalem Bauten an der Autobahn, der Collaku Familie, gab es einen Toten, 2 Collaku Familien Gestalten wurden verletzt . Die BAufirma, wird nicht einmal in den Medien genannt. nach Manipulationen am Strom Umspann Werk, flog der Transformator in die Luft, verursacht durch die gut bekannte Politik Mafia Familie: Collaku, wo auch 2 Verwandte verletzt wurden, Einer starb. Kostenlosen Strom, ein System für illegale Firmen, Bauten, Baufirmen und das schon lange. Die OSHEE Strom Versorgung, legt für Geld sogar illegale Leitungen, was vor über 10 Jahren auch bekannt war, denn Deutschland fördert die Zustände mit Stark Strom Leitungen, die nicht funktionieren, aber die KfW kredite müssen bedient werden. Und Posten für die Mafia Regierung gibt es auch bei den angeblichen Entwicklungsfirmen, die sofort unterwandert werden. Edi Rama, KfW Eröffnung im Kosovo mit INTECH Mafia Firma von GTZ,GIZ, KFW Leute zur Geldwäsche Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau KfW in Albanien: Vlore Projekte
Herr Björn Thies
Leiter der KfW Büros Albanien
Shpërthen transformatori në Tiranë-Durrës, një i vdekur, dy rëndë
Nga Arkiva
Vendngjahttp://www.gazetadita.al/shperthen-transformatori-ne-tirane-durres-nje-i-vdekur-dy-ne-gjendje-te-rende/