SPAK prosecutor Vladimir Mara gave details on the operation conducted by SPAK and the Bari Prosecutor's Office. According to Mara, a total of 52 arrest warrants were issued in Albania and Italy, of which 40 were executed, A2 CNN reports.
"3 restaurants in Durrës, a coffee bar, 6 commercial companies and 1 television in the city of Vlora have been seized," Mara said. "During this investigation, 3 million euros in cash were previously seized as income of this criminal group, which have been subject to investigation in this criminal proceeding."
The operation was carried out with the support of Interpol, the Office of Security Experts in Tirana, the Albanian Police, under the coordination of the Anti-Mafia District Directorate of Bari and SPAK of Tirana.
According to investigations, the Albanian criminal organization operated on a large scale along the Balkan routes, with branches towards Northern Europe and consolidated drug landing sites in Puglia, considered a strategic center for the distribution of narcotics.
Cocaine and other narcotics were transported mainly via sea routes, with the logistical support of operational cells present in Italy, also involved in the management of illicit proceeds through money laundering activities and fictitious ownership of assets.
The precautionary measures were issued within the framework of the "URA" operation following investigations carried out by the DIA of Bari between September 2021 and June 2022, which made it possible to collect serious evidence against suspects, Albanians and Italians, belonging in Italy to two criminal groups based in Puglia and another criminal group in Albania, based in Durrës.
The operation in Albania has been extended to the cities of Durrës, Shkodra, Tirana, Fier and Vlora, while in Italy in Bari and its provinces, but also in Oria Br, Matera, Frosinone, Turin, Cosenza, Trento, Como, Cremona and Pomezia Rm, as well as in Belgium.
The DIA, in relation to the large quantities of heroin and cocaine moved, starting in 2016, between the Balkans, Northern Europe, South America and Puglia, has documented the existence of a community of interests between the criminal group in Albania, responsible - at a transnational level - for the trafficking and transfer of drugs, and two criminal associations operating in Bari, which, in turn, carried out the operations of "cutting" and packaging in blocks, supplying wholesale to organizations in Bari, Brindisi and Lecce interested in obtaining quality heroin and cocaine.
The narcotics came from Turkey and Latin America and were transported to Italy by Albanians. The complex investigations, carried out with telephone interceptions, environmental interceptions, video recordings and surveillance and control services, supported by the analysis of encrypted conversations obtained from the SKYECC platform, as well as by the statements of three collaborators of justice (whose credibility has been verified), have allowed, among other things, to document, in relation to the narcotic substance sent to Bari mainly from Albania and Northern Europe, supplies of 255 kilograms of heroin and pure cocaine) carried out through international couriers. In the same context, an uninterrupted "flow" of money was reconstructed from Puglia to Albania, to pay for the drugs sold "in bulk", which was carried out through international bus drivers, whose illegal transactions reached the figure of 4.5 million euros.
Several drug money transfers were discovered, which were made in Bari, for amounts exceeding half a million euros. Also, the transfer of over 500 thousand dollars from Albania to Latin America was proven, paid as an advance for the purchase of a shipment of 500 kilograms of cocaine originating from Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The evidence used to demonstrate the functioning of the three transnational criminal associations concerned a previous seizure of 3 million euros in cash in Durrës, as well as the seizure of drugs, carried out in different circumstances: over 30 kilograms of heroin and several artisanal laboratories used in Bari and the province, for cutting and packaging the drug in blocks. A shipment of 2 tons of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, as well as 932 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Gioia Tauro, in Reggio Calabria. Also a shipment of 400 kilograms of cannabis in Noicattaro, Bari.
A novelty of this investigation is represented by the use, among the sources of evidence, of encrypted conversations from the SKYECC platform, obtained with European investigation orders at the Court of Paris. The messages, after being deciphered by the DIA investigators of Bari and shared with the SPAK officers of Tirana, were carefully analyzed and cross-referenced with other investigative results.
Arrest measures by the GJKKO have been issued for the leader of a clan in the city of Durrës, a commander and an agent of the Albanian police, a lawyer and 6 international bus drivers. The precautionary measures on assets in Italy concern the seizure of 9 apartments, 4 companies, 7 current accounts and 3 cars.
Meanwhile, various properties have been seized in Albania, 2 construction companies, 4 luxury restaurants, 1 real estate agency, the total value of which is estimated at several million euros.
In this context, following the previous operations "Shefi", "Kulmi" and "Spirti", between 2018 and 2021, the DIA of Bari has already executed a total of 118 precautionary measures, the seizure of movable and immovable assets for several million euros and the discovery of over six tons of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and hashish, allowing, at different trial levels, sentences of up to 20 years in prison to be imposed on each defendant. (A2 Televizion)
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