Italian anti-drug report, Albanian criminal networks are getting stronger

The Italian anti-drug annual report for 2024, which refers to data from 2023, finds an increasing role of Albanian criminal organizations operating in Italy.

According to the report, which was published on Tuesday by the Italian Anti-Drug Directorate, "Albanian drug traffickers are rapidly climbing the ranks of the most aggressive and powerful drug trafficking organizations in Italy".

According to the report, "this is evidenced by the high number of cases reported in Italy by the police to judicial authorities in 2023 in the field of drugs: 171 Albanian organizations targeting drug trafficking and 1,432 Albanians for the crime of drug distribution, which constitute 16.44% of all foreigners reported for these crimes".

According to the report, Albanian citizens are ranked in 2023 after Moroccans in Italian police reports to judicial bodies for drug offenses, with 1,604 cases, out of 1,574 that were reported in 2022.

Most of the reported Albanians, according to the Italian police, have activity in the field of cocaine, where 1263 people were reported from 1211 in 2022.

The report says that Albanian organizations have the ability to move large quantities of cocaine and heroin.

"For cocaine," the report says, "they take care of every stage of the supply and distribution chain: the purchase at the production sites, the collection of the narcotic in Dutch and Belgian ports, the transport to the destination in specially modified vehicles, up to the stage of subsequent distribution of drugs in Italian territory".

"For criminal organizations from around the world involved in drug trafficking, Colombia is a place of strategic importance," the report says.

"Currently the Mexican cartels, the Brazilian ones and the Albanian mafia seem to be the main partners of the Colombian networks. The Italian organized crime historically most connected to the traffic from Colombia is the 'Ndrangheta. The other organization the 'Camorra', although not present in the form permanent, appears to benefit from Colombian suppliers," says the Italian anti-drug report.

The report of the Italian Anti-Drug Directorate says that the geographical proximity between Italy and Albania has facilitated direct links between Apulian and Albanian criminal groups, especially in the supply, storage and trading of marijuana.

According to the report, Albanian organizations operate in Italian territory in small groups, in some cases multi-ethnic, which mainly deal with drug trafficking, or they operate in ways that reflect mafia-type structures, using intimidation methods.

The Italian anti-drug report says that Albanian organizations, having and developing direct relations for supply from the producing regions, are more and more related to the Calabrian, Campania and Sicilian mafia or other criminal groups.

According to the report, Albanian groups use the so-called "Balkan Route" to transport Afghan heroin from Turkey to Italy and other European countries. VOA