Drug rivers from Albania to Puglia, "La Repubblica": Albanian drug bosses have connections to political figures

Bari was the distribution center for large quantities of heroin and cocaine coming from Albania and destined for the Apulian market, as part of an international trafficking operation that allowed for a business worth at least seven million euros.

As "La Repubblica" writes , Bari was the place where transactions and cash exchanges with millionaires were carried out, the documented ones alone amounting to 4.5 million euros. Bari was the port from which buses departed, bringing bundles of banknotes to Albania to pay for drugs to local bosses, some of whom, as the Italian media writes, were believed to be close to political figures.

The investigation of the mega-operation 'Ura' was launched in the capital of Puglia, carried out by the DIA under the direction of the DDA, with the assistance of Interpol, the Tirana Security Experts' Office and the Albanian Police, SPAK and Eurojust.

52 preliminary warrants, issued by Italian and Albanian judges, for international drug trafficking, money laundering and abuse of office. Some of the suspects are from Puglia, some of whom are believed to be close to the Palermiti clan of Japigia.

Three international criminal organizations have been documented, starting with the first seizure of 3 million euros in cash in Durrës.

"One of the main points of this investigation was the reconstruction of the money flow that characterized the trafficking," said Bari DDA coordinator Francesco Giannella.

"Following money across borders is now possible thanks to international cooperation," added prosecutor Ettore Cardinali.

Numerous seizures of narcotics were carried out in several "artisanal laboratories" in Bari and the province used for cutting and packaging the drug in blocks; with 2 tons of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands); 932 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Gioia Tauro (Reggio Calabria); of 400 kilograms of hashish in Noicattaro (Bari).

A few years ago, the associate justice Domenico Milella, former right-hand man of Japigia boss Eugenio Palermiti, whose group had stable relationships with traffickers across the Adriatic, spoke of an Albanian supply channel for cocaine.

A novelty of this investigation is represented by the use, among the sources of evidence, of encrypted conversations from the SKYEÇ platform, obtained with European Investigation Orders at the Court of Paris.

The measures issued in Tirana affected, among others, the heads of the powerful Troplini family, which dominates Durrës. Among those arrested is 37-year-old Elvis Doci, known as Visi i Pojës, considered the boss of the city, a commander and an agent of the Albanian police, a lawyer and 6 international bus drivers.

The precautionary measures on assets in Italy included preventive seizure that operated up to the confiscation of movable and immovable assets, including 9 apartments, 4 companies, 7 current accounts and 3 cars, and, in Albania, the seizure of several properties, 2 construction companies, 4 luxury restaurants, 1 real estate agency, 1 television network, the total value of which is estimated at several million euros.