Flash News

DASH: Balkans, part of American strategy for expelling migrants

Ilir Shqina, a diplomat, and her business partner Grida Dumas were suddenly born

EULEX mandate in Kosovo extended until 2027

Drug trafficking network dismantled, 11 arrests in Foggia, an Albanian at the center of the investigation

The race for the head of the BKH, the deadline for applications ends today

E-TJERA

Drug trafficking network dismantled, 11 arrests in Foggia, an Albanian at the center of the investigation

Politiko 2025-06-06 17:17:47

Drug trafficking network dismantled, 11 arrests in Foggia, an Albanian at the

An Italian Police operation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Foggia, led to the arrest of eleven people accused of being part of a drug trafficking network operating between Puglia and Molise.

The prison precautions, issued by the judge for the preliminary investigations of the Court of Foggia, were announced in the early hours of Friday by officers of the San Severo police station, at the end of a complex investigation begun in December 2023.

At the center of the investigation, an Albanian citizen identified by investigators as the “majority” suspect and the main supplier of cocaine and cannabis to the organization. The man managed contacts with the various local drug trafficking cells by maintaining an extremely cautious profile, limiting communications to a few traditional phone calls and preferring encrypted messaging applications in order to avoid checks.

The work of the investigators has allowed them to reconstruct the structure and operational mechanisms of the criminal association. The monitoring of three vehicles used by the suspected wholesaler, registered with a rental agency operating in the Gargano area, was crucial in this regard. Thanks to shadowing and surveillance techniques, the agents identified the suspected accomplices, many of whom were already known to the police, outlining a dense network of relationships with criminals active in drug trafficking.

The circumstantial evidence was confirmed by two episodes documented by audio and video intercepts. The first concerns a meeting between the Albanian citizen, a known local criminal and a second Albanian – still unidentified – during which a drug exchange allegedly took place in the territory of Ruvo di Puglia.

The second episode allowed filming of the transportation of a load of approximately 13 kilograms of narcotic substance, carried out with the support of an armed escort to ensure its safety.

"The suspects - explain the investigators - used encrypted messaging applications and, only rarely, used phone calls". The investigations, carried out with the support of technical activities and specific investigative findings, have outlined a picture of dangerousness and significant criminal roots, with individuals operating in multiple provinces and stable links to the criminal circles of Gargano. The arrested individuals - including many repeat offenders - were sent to prison on drug trafficking charges./BW