During the recent years, Albania has been addressed as the firstEuropean narco-state
“According to the International Monetary Fund’s definition of a narco-state, as a state ‘where all legitimate institutions becomepenetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade’, like Venezuela, Guinea-Bissau and Afghanistan, Albania is knee-deep in drugs money. A 2018 US Department of State report described Albania as a home of “rampant corruption, weak legal andgovernment institutions and weak border controls” with drugtrafficking, tax evasion, smuggling, and human trafficking themost profitable crimes in country. Drugs are big business here.”62
Metamorphosis operation showed that more than 300 officers of the State Police of the Leading Ranks are being verified by the Special Prosecution Office as suspects of links to the organizedcrime. In conversations on the SKY app, some police chiefs talk about fixed monthly payments they or their superiors received from crime, for providing information on their targets, illegalactivities such as gambling or otherwise.63
“An EU-funded study, which ran from 2016 to 2019, found a staggering 20.7 percent of Albanians were offered money orfavors in exchange for their vote. In January, it was revealed thatcocaine gangs successfully rigged elections by buying votes. Afrim Krasniqi, head of Albania’s Institute for Political Studies, said the role of criminal gangs in the 2017 election campaign was greater than the role of political parties. “Today, there’s a general impression that nobody is able to win elections without supportfrom such groups,” he said.”64
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s two interior ministers have both been discharged in scandals linked to drugs. The first,Saimir Tahiri was found guilty of abuse of power although hewas charged with drug trafficking and corruption. Tahiri’s name was mentioned in a wiretap overheard by Italy’s anti-mafia police in connection with kickbacks, cannabis trafficking and smuggling Kalashnikov rifles. Tahiri was replaced by Fatmir Xhafaj, whose short stint as interior minister ended after his half-brother Agronwas jailed for seven years for drug trafficking in Italy.
In July 2023, Edi Rama announced Taulant Balla as his cabinet new Minister of Interior. Taulant Balla is the most accusedpolitician for his connections with organized crime. During a session of Parliament in 2018, from the rostrum of Parliament,the then head of opposition Basha accused Taulant Balla as involved into a trafficking case by means of “Toyota Yaris”. Two days later a “Toyota Yaris” vehicle was stopped in the Port of Durres (upon request of Belgian Authorities) and the police found3.4 million euros stashed in the car. The case received large media attention,but Belgian Authorities were not pleased and suspectedboth Basha and Balla as persons who had sabotaged the covertoperation.65
62 https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmpq89/the-inside-story-of-europes-first-narco- state?fbclid=IwAR2GfsGibNO08-d4-3WKSxe3PKT8jZV7ObfvJ4M18yS2A9fM0y7kXZ5iUSI
63 https://boldnews.al/2023/08/03/300-police-nen-verifikim-nga-spak-per-lidhje-me-krimin-pritet-te-merren-ne- pyetje/
64 https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmpq89/the-inside-story-of-europes-first-narco- state?fbclid=IwAR2GfsGibNO08-d4-3WKSxe3PKT8jZV7ObfvJ4M18yS2A9fM0y7kXZ5iUSI
However, data from the police reporting on border crossing showed that Taulant Balla had travelled abroad with Edmond Bego 57 times.From those travels, 18 times were via charterflight paid for by Edmond Bego.
The opposition and media noticed that Edmond Bego was proclaimed winner of several public tenders reaching millions of euros in the constituency of Taulant Balla.70 It was revealed thatBego’s business grew 20 folds within 3 years since Socialists came to power.71 The police is well aware of Edmond Bego’s past and his engagement in trafficking and three years ago asked foran investigation into his finances.72 No results were ever published.
The Municipality of Tirana (headed by a puppet of Edi Rama) even changed its urban plan to please the interests of Edmond Bego. Under the original urban plan the banks of Lana Riverwould be expanded to prevent floods, but such an action would affect the financial interests of Edmond Bego, hence his top friends influenced the Municipality of Tirana into changing theUrban Plan in that part of the riverbank.73
A local gang leader in Elbasan accused “a politician named Taulant” as involved in the murder of his British-Albanian lawyer Ravik Gurra.
“After the 3 February 2016 massacre I never left the house. Withthe late lawyer Ravik Gurraj we received the file of the 2016 event and there was also a high official named Taulant. We learned that by the decision of the Elbasan court the wiretaps ofthe politician were destroyed. The
65 https://politiko.al/english/ditari-i-opozites/eshtja-toyota-yaris-basha-mberrin-ne-spak-per-te-deshmuar-para- i453567
66 https://sot.com.al/aktualitet/italia-e-denoi-me-21-vjet-zbardhet-vendimi-pse-gjykata-e-larte-vendosi-4-vjet-e-4- muaj
67 https://exit.al/en/mp-balla-speaks-on-relationship-with-convicted-drug-trafficker-were-not-friends-but-i-did- travel-with-him/
68 https://lajmifundit.al/2020/02/03/balla-bego-udhetimet/
69 https://abcnews.al/salianji-balla-ka-udhetuar-jashte-shtetit-me-trafikantin-e-droges/
70 http://www.panorama.com.al/pd-nxjerr-dokumentet-biznesmeni-bego-fitoi-tender-100-milione-leke-taulant- balla-te-tregoje/
71 https://top-channel.tv/english/dp-edmond-begos-businesses-grew-20-fold-in-past-20-years-thanks-to- government-ties/
72 https://politiko.al/english/e-tjera/policia-kerkon-hetim-pasuror-per-biznesmenin-edmond-bego-i460825
Politician named Taulant called me and offered me help, but I didnot ask him anything. “I don’t mention his full name because myfamily is at risk,” said Capja.
During the election campaign in 2021 a conflict between supporters of main political parties escalated into armed violence. The Prosecution Office revealed the names of people supporting Taulant Balla in Elbasan. Among them was Mehmet Greca. According to reports in the British media, Mehmet Greca has a criminal record. He was convicted in the UK of drug trafficking after being arrested in 2016 with 51 kilograms of cocaine and £80,000 in cash. The value of cocaine was estimated at 5 millionBritish pounds.
At the scene of the crime was also Gentian Sharra, a person with a rich criminal past, as a collaborator of hitmen (Talo Çela,Nuredin Dumani etc.) in various robberies, including the one in Tirana International Airport. After the Socialists came to power, Sharra became the beneficiary of public funds through his wife Olta Sharra’s company. Several million euros have been awarded to his wife’s company through public tenders given by the Municipalities of Elbasan, Librazhd and Cërrik (constituency of Taulant Balla) allegedly as a reward for the assistance he has given during the Socialist Party’s campaign in Elbasan.
Opposition leader has named Sharra and the gang of Elbasan as responsible for procuring votes for Taulant Balla since the 2017 campaign and that the two have had more than 50 telephone calls during the campaign.76
Sharra was arrested in July 2022 following the testimony of Nuredin Dumani (currently a collaborator of justice) and Sharra’s assets estimated at about 5 million euros are currently under preventive sequestration pending trial. While he is currently incarcerated, the company run by his wife continues to “win”tenders in Elbasan regardless of the legal requirements.77
During the first days of August 2023 journalists reported about an illegal interference in the Total Information Management System(TIMS) which keeps track of border entry and exit to and fromAlbania. Several journalists reported that this scandal is linked with Taulant Balla.
“Our police have turned into a nest of thugs who obviously have nothing to eat each other. The latest wiretap dossier, involvingsenior police officers, confirms not only the extent of the implication but also the depth of their criminal mentality.
76 https://dosja.al/politike/berisha-gentian-sharra-e-banda-e-elbasanit-blene-vota-per-ps-i223908
77 https://www.reporter.al/2023/05/26/tenderat-e-gatimit-ne-spitalet-e-elbasanit-ushqejne-kompanine-e-lidhur- me-krimin/
It is nowonder that the data theft was done with criminal intent. And it is no surprise that everything happened to tell the truth of theappointment of T. Face to the post of Minister of Interior. Personally, I believe this man was put in this position with the intention of closing as many holes as possible in the renaissance sift boat. First, block all the support that the police have so far given to SPAK (Special Prosecution Office against Corruptionand Organized Crime)”.
“Transfer of an individual from Information Systems Agency to the State Police as a Senior Director outside the series. Only after some time is the mission of this task of its shippers revealed.Download data secretly from the TIMS system. This seriousoffense has the minister or prime minister shielded because he is not arrested, but simply suspended along with two othersubordinates. Only after public pressure, this case is referred tothe prosecution office.
“Metamorphosis” case files, shipped from Belgium, the Netherlands and France, speak of more than 300 police officers of different ranks as part of gangs of murders and trafficking. The mafia is fighting within the police system. Whom do they want tohide, whom they want to protect and whom to destroy? This was one of the reasons for the nomination of Taulant Balla as Minister of Interior. The cover-up of this grave scandal brings to memory the numerous allegations at the address of the new minister. Charges of knowledge and involvement in the criminal cases with names of the illegal underworld.”79
AL in Sweden. 
One reply on “During the recent years, Albania has been addressed as the firstEuropean narco-state”
Hey gringo: Are you going to spend your whole life locked in a box in Scandinavia? Do you remember that we won’t come there, you’ll have to sleep with mortal dreams, wait for al. 🏴☠️
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