The Special Prosecution Office announced that it has cracked down on one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations from Latin America to EU countries, which laundered money in Albania through business companies, resorts, and real estate.
The Special Prosecution Office announced on Friday that it has cracked down on one of the largest cocaine trafficking organizations from South America to Europe, which laundered dirty money in the resort construction and real estate business in Albania.
New charges have also been filed against Franc Çopja, alias Franc Gergely, currently arrested in Belgium for drug trafficking and organized criminal group offenses.
The investigations were conducted by SPAK in cooperation with Europol and the authorities of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, after data and messages were obtained through the SkY ECC platform.
The suspected criminal organization operated on a global scale, collaborating with other criminal groups to facilitate transport to European ports and investing the large profits in properties and businesses in Albania and abroad.
The organization is accused of being responsible for the trafficking of 28 tons of cocaine in several shipments from Paraguay to Antwerp in Belgium and Hamburg in Germany in 2020. Of these quantities, 17 tons of cocaine were seized with an estimated market value of up to 3.5 billion euros.
According to SPAK, the trafficking of these cargoes was organized by Elvis Çela and his brother, who were living in Paraguay at the time.
According to the prosecutors in the case, Altin Dumani and Vladimir Mara, this organization can be considered one of the most powerful Albanian organizations in international cocaine trafficking.
"She had the capacity to directly influence the price of cocaine on European markets and to manage large quantities of the narcotic in short periods of time," prosecutors were quoted as saying in the press release.
"The high financial power of this organization, its structuring and organization of a very high level, as well as its ability to recover losses resulting from seizures, distinguish it from other criminal groups investigated by SPAK," they added.
Among the 16 measures signed by the court, SPAK stated that seven were executed with prison arrest and two with an obligation to appear before a Judicial Police officer. Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the organization, Franc Çopja, is currently arrested in Belgium.
According to SPAK's investigations, the criminal organization carried out operations to smuggle tons of cocaine from Paraguay, where two of its main members were based, enabling it to fully control the entire trafficking chain.
The narcotics were hidden in legitimate shipments of soap boxes, paint cans, or construction glue, which were transported from South America to major European ports. The drugs were disguised with trademarks such as “Fox,” “Puma,” or “Lightning Eyes.”
The organization also used various methods to transfer money – from the physical transportation of cash from EU countries to Albania with international line drivers to the "Hawala" system without physical movement of money or with cryptocurrencies.
The prosecution has identified 5 commercial companies in Durrës, Kavajë and Rrogozhina linked to the above organization, including the company AMR shpk owned by Fadil Balla.
The company owns the “Ajman Park Resort” complex in Xhafzotaj, which was seized by the Special Court at the request of SPAK. The preventive seizure measure was also imposed on a 2-story villa in Dhëmi worth 1 million euros, property and land in Sharra, Tirana, as well as business companies. /BIRN/
