The Balkan mafia has attempted to "spread" into Paraguay. The alarm was raised by local authorities that gang members, including Albanians, had attempted to enter the territory.
Paraguay's Migration Director, Jorge Kronawetter, revealed that members of the so-called "Balkan Mafia" had used documents of Argentine citizens to avoid controls and enter the country without problems. Local media quoted him as saying that the members were discovered at checkpoints located on the border with Bolivia. One of the members of this mafia, wanted in Brazil, was identified trying to enter Bolivia using a Bulgarian passport.
Kronawetter also said that these criminals usually begin their activities with minor criminal offenses such as theft, before escalating to more serious crimes, and almost always seek to exploit refugee status to settle in other countries.
La Politica Online reports on the arrest of Franc Çopja in Belgium in August 2025, which led to the discovery of one of Albania's most powerful criminal organizations, led by Çopja. His organization was accused of trafficking around 28 tons of cocaine in 2020 alone. According to investigators, the network used routes from Paraguay to the European ports of Antwerp in Belgium and Hamburg in Germany.
Franc Çopja's ties to Paraguay were direct and deep, as he frequently visited the Latin country to finalize the purchase of tons of cocaine from various factions. The operational base in Paraguay was run by brothers Ervis and Ardian Çela, who resided there. They were responsible for receiving cocaine from Bolivian producers, storing it, and preparing it for international transport.
The shipments were hidden in sophisticated ways inside shipping containers, disguised in soap boxes, paint cans, and construction glue. A key associate of the Albanian network in Paraguay was Diego Benítez, who used his company, Tupá SA, to transport the hidden drugs. The shipments were then sent across the Brazilian border to be shipped to Europe.
The gang is also suspected of meeting with members of fugitive Sebastián Marset’s inner circle at the “23 de Abril” ranch in San Roque González. The Hamburg seizure was key and laid the foundation for the subsequent operation “A Ultranza Py.” To manage the huge profits, the organization used a sophisticated money laundering mechanism, including the informal transfer system known as hawala.
