SPAK sends former judicial police officer to trial for abuse of office, disclosure of investigative secrets and corruption
The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime completed the investigations and has sent to the Special Court of First Instance the request for the trial of criminal proceedings no. 49/3/1 of 2026, against the defendant, Igli Haxhiaj.
The defendant has been investigated under the security measure "arrest in prison" since 27.11.2025, provided for by Article 238 of the Criminal Procedure Code, accused of committing the criminal offenses: "Abuse of office", "Disclosure of secret acts or data" and "Passive corruption of judges, prosecutors and other officials of the justice system", provided for by Articles 248, 295/a, paragraph (3) and 319/ç of the Criminal Code.
The investigations were conducted within the framework of proceedings 49/3 of 2023 (no. 49 of 2019) and no. 29 of 2024, related to the criminal offenses: “Production and sale of narcotics”, “Trafficking in narcotics”, “Laundering of proceeds of crime or criminal activity”, “Structured criminal group”, “Commitment of offenses by a structured criminal group”, “Abuse of office”, “Disclosure of secret acts or data” and “Passive corruption of judges, prosecutors and other officials of justice bodies”, provided for by articles 28/4, 283/1, 283/a, 287, 333/a/2, 334/1, 248, 295/a, paragraph (3) and 319/ç of the Criminal Code.
These criminal proceedings were investigated within the framework of a Joint Investigation Team with the Anti-Mafia District Prosecutor's Office in Brescia, Italy, and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Swiss Confederation. In Albania, the preliminary investigations for criminal proceedings no. 49/3 of 2023 (no. 49 of 2019) were conducted in cooperation with the judicial police services of the State Police Directorate.
Joint investigations have uncovered the activity of a structured criminal group, composed mainly of Albanian citizens, whose purpose was the international trafficking of narcotics. The structured criminal group operated from Albanian territory and with branches in Italian territory, importing narcotics directly from South America and through trade routes, entering the main ports of Northern Europe to then transport them to Italy by land, hidden in heavy vehicles.
While the preliminary investigations conducted for criminal proceedings no. 49 of 2019 of the Special Prosecutor's Office at the time when the criminal facts occurred were of a "secret investigative" nature, based on Article 279/1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Criminal facts against the defendant Igli Haxhiaj:
1. During the preliminary investigation phase of criminal proceedings no. 49 of 2019, it was decided to allow the interception of telephone conversations and communications for some of the suspects of the criminal group, as well as environmental conversations in two vehicles used by one of the members of the criminal group (DM).
The judicial police at the Directorate of the Special Operational Force at the General Directorate of the Tirana State Police have been tasked with installing and carrying out environmental surveillance in the two vehicles mentioned above, as well as surveillance or surveillance in public places of other subjects of this criminal proceeding.
In this phase of the preliminary investigations, the defendant Igli Haxhiaj, in his capacity as a judicial police officer in the Directorate of the Special Operational Force, in the General Directorate of the State Police, was part of the investigation group that carried out the wiretapping and covert surveillance of the subjects of this criminal proceeding, carrying out surveillance actions against citizen DM and the vehicles in his use.
From the preliminary investigations it is proven that the defendant Igli Haxhiaj has revealed to the citizen DM the fact that the latter has been the subject of investigations of this criminal proceeding as well as of actions related to telephone tapping and surveillance in public places. He has also given the citizen DM data and has revealed the content of acts that constitute “investigative secret”. In these circumstances, it is proven that the defendant Igli Haxhiaj has committed the criminal offense “Disclosure of secret acts or data”, provided for by Article 295/a, paragraph (3) of the Criminal Code.
2. The defendant Igli Haxhiaj has carried out the above actions of disclosing data and the content of procedural acts that constitute “investigative secrets”, in exchange for seeking and receiving irregular monetary benefits. The defendant Haxhiaj has communicated through the encrypted platform SKY ECC with the citizen DM, who is considered one of the members of the structured criminal group, by providing him with information related to the investigative actions that were being carried out at that moment, against this citizen. These conversations clearly prove the fact that the defendant Igli Haxhiaj was providing the information in exchange for monetary benefits, specifically the amount of 15,000 euros.
Under these circumstances, it is proven that he committed the criminal offense of "Passive corruption of judges, prosecutors and other officials of the justice system", as provided for in Article 319/ç of the Criminal Code.
3. From the investigations conducted and from the content of the conversations held by the defendant Igli Haxhiaj through the SkyECC application with other persons, it is proven that in many communications and conversations he talks about the trade of narcotics and exchanges conversations about the type of narcotics, prices or related to the actions for its purchase and sale.
In his capacity as a Judicial Police Officer at the State Police Directorate, at the moment when he became aware of the facts and circumstances related to the sale, transportation and trade of narcotics during conversations conducted with other persons on the SkyECC application, Igli Haxhiaj had the legal obligation to carry out procedural actions to investigate the criminal offenses and their perpetrators, as well as to inform the competent prosecutor in writing about the essential elements of the fact, with the aim of registering criminal proceedings and carrying out further procedural actions.
The above omissions are contrary to Articles 30 and 293 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Articles 17 and 85 of Law No. 108/2014 “On the State Police”. These omissions constitute dereliction of duty, as the legislation holds the police officer individually liable for any act or omission contrary to the law during the exercise of his functions.
In the above circumstances, it is proven that the defendant Igli Haxhiaj committed the criminal offense of "Abuse of office" provided for by Article 248 of the Criminal Code.
