The assassination in Rinas once again exposes the criminal's connections to the high levels of the State Police, which, according to experts, should serve as an alarm bell for a real purge process.
On the afternoon of November 11, Gilmando Dani, a 47-year-old convicted of organized crime, was killed in a mafia assassination attempt at the exit of Rinas airport in a populated area and with the presence of numerous security forces.
Along with Dani, Mustafa Sheqeri – an employee of the Police Supervision Agency, AMP, and Dani's companion during a trip to Barcelona and back – was also injured in the attack.
Sheqer's presence during the assassination, but also the investigations into his recruitment into the AMP, led to the arrest of two officers from Police Station No. 3 in Tirana who had verified his background.
But his case is not isolated and exposes a systemic problem of ongoing incrimination within the ranks of the State Police. Moreover, the Police Supervision Agency is the structure responsible for uncovering such cases of incrimination among police officers at all levels.
The head of the AMP, Eduart Merkaj, told BIRN that they had undertaken an administrative investigation into the Sheqer case and promised a swift resolution. He also stressed that suspicions of violations of the law were being investigated seriously, both for minor violations and for links to organized crime.
“The institution is designed to be concerned, regardless of the numbers,” Merkaj said, calling the incrimination an isolated phenomenon.
But for civil society representatives, the coexistence between police officers and organized crime is not a sporadic phenomenon.
Romario Shehu, a researcher on security issues at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, IDM, says that cooperation between police officers and criminal groups appears in various forms.
"This cooperation has taken various forms, including debunking police operations, reporting on opponents targeted by criminal groups, providing information to track the movements of their opponents, or providing information from various individuals," Shehu said.
Klodiana Lala, a crime and justice journalist at News 24, also calls the situation "an alarm bell."
“Crime is at high levels of organization and meanwhile there is a lack of political will to accept the situation and fight it,” Lala told BIRN.
Concession with crime
Data from the Special Prosecution Office and the Police Supervision Agency itself point to a massive problem within the ranks of the State Police. According to SPAK, around 70 police officers were under investigation for involvement in organized crime by the end of 2023.
AMP data also shows an increase in the number of police officers arrested for various offenses; from 102 in 2023 to 163 at the end of 2024.
According to a report by the head of SPAK to the Parliament in June of last year, a criminalized minority within the police was seriously undermining the rule of law.
"It's outrageous when they become part of and collaborate with organized crime for the crimes that organized crime commits," Dumani said during his reporting.
The incrimination of senior police officials is a systemic problem that has also surfaced from investigations based on messages exchanged through the SKY ECC application. The former director of the Operational Force, Oltion Bistri, as well as a number of police station or crime chiefs have already been arrested for collaborating with or providing protection to members of organized crime.
IDM researcher Romario Shehu identifies two main categories of officers who, according to him, are most vulnerable to recruitment by organized crime; those with important decision-making positions and police officers with special skills.
“Special police unit personnel who have high physical skills in martial arts, the use of weapons and ammunition, find themselves in a comfortable position to assist criminal groups that need these skills,” Shehu explains.
The situation becomes even more problematic when the oversight structures themselves are suspected of being affected. The recent involvement of an employee of the Police Supervision Agency, AMP, in a criminal incident near the Mother Teresa Airport, makes the problem of trust more pronounced.
Journalist Lala commented on the event as an indication that "the police have surrendered to organized crime."
“I say it was given with a concession to crime,” said Lala, calling for a national strategy to change the situation. Lala called the statements of Interior Minister Albana Koçiu on security in the country problematic, noting that they neglected the level of organization of gangs and criminal groups.
Culture of silence
Information released immediately after the assassination attempt on Dani and Sheqeri indicated that the latter had been recruited as an agent of the Police Surveillance Agency only a few months earlier. Media reports indicate that Sheqeri (surname changed from Shaljani) was not an unknown figure.
Since 2018, his ties to Gilmando Dani and the group led by Emiljano Shullazi were publicly known, however this did not prevent him from being recruited by AMP.
AMP itself admitted that the verifications had failed. Less than 24 hours after the incident, the Agency announced the detention of two police officers from Police Station No. 3 in Tirana, a deputy commissioner and an inspector.
"The Police Supervision Agency, after conducting investigative actions, has detained police officers Deputy Commissioner BC, with the duty of Specialist for Crime Investigation, and Inspector AZ, with the duty of Deputy/Specialist for Community Policing, at Police Commissariat No. 3, Tirana, suspected of committing the criminal offenses of "Forgery of seals, stamps or forms" and "Abuse of office," the police said in a statement on Wednesday.
They are suspected of having compiled the Credibility Certificate for citizen Mustafa Sheqeri without reflecting in it the data that constitute a cause for the violation of security conditions. This falsified document, according to the AMP, "has led to the employment of this citizen at the Police Supervision Agency."
In response to the incident, AMP announced that an internal review of Sheqer's recruitment procedures was ongoing and the Director General, Eduart Merkaj, ordered the suspension of the AMP Special Operations Force chain of command.
According to Shehu, the roots of the problem are actually found in the recruitment system in the State Police and security institutions. He lists a number of critical issues that make the system vulnerable.
These include “inadequate psychological assessments” and a declining interest in becoming part of these structures, significantly lowering the required standards.
"This has led to the recruitment of less qualified candidates; insufficient verification of applicants' data by local police structures, especially regarding their family and social connections, but also criminal proceedings outside Albania; as well as the unjustified influence of influential individuals in securing positions within the police forces," said Shehu.
Beyond active infiltration, Shehu points out that a major problem is the “culture of silence” within security institutions. He argues that while the police are not entirely corrupt, many employees are aware of their colleagues’ deviant behavior but choose not to report it.
“A number of obstacles make reporting difficult,” says Shehu.
“These include close relationships between colleagues, coupled with a harmful mentality that sees reporting colleagues as a lowly act… this, together with fear of retaliation and lack of trust in reporting mechanisms, present obstacles to reporting,” he concluded. /BIRN/
