SPAK and Italian authorities launch operation against money laundering by Albanian criminal organizations

The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime and the Verona Prosecutor's Office conducted a joint operation against a criminal organization from Elbasan, which operated in Verona, Italy, and was responsible for transporting large quantities of cocaine from South America to the European market.

The investigations carried out by the Special Prosecutor's Office, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Guardia di Finanza and the Verona financial investigators' section, led to the preventive seizure of movable and immovable assets, financial resources and shares of a commercial company's assets, which exceeded the value of 4 million euros.

The seizure was executed today, July 3, following the decision of the Verona Court, as a preventive measure, within the framework of ongoing investigations.

The seized assets are:

A building, real estate in Nogarole Rocca (Verona)

A building, worth around 3 million euros, consisting of 30 units (offices and shops) (Verona)

A bank account where office and store rents were deposited (around 400 thousand euros per year)

A trading company operating in the construction field, with 100% quota in Italy.

The investigations established that these assets were created and financed with the profits from the international trafficking of narcotics from South America to European markets. Attention was focused on a real estate company in Italy, to which large sums of money were sent through the banking system. It turned out that the money came from Albania, as the criminal organization transferred the income from a trading company in Albania, owned by two Albanian brothers, and these amounts were invested in Italy in the construction, reconstruction of buildings, which were then rented out.

One of the two brothers is on the international wanted list, while the other is in a Belgian prison. The latter was arrested in Verona in June 2024, following the execution of an arrest warrant issued by Belgian authorities on suspicion of involvement in a mafia murder in Antwerp, as a result of conflicts between rival drug trafficking groups.

For the latter, there is also a decision issued by the First Instance Court for Corruption and Organized Crime, following investigations conducted by SPAK, for the criminal offenses: "Premeditated murder", "Illegal possession and production of weapons", "International drug trafficking" and "Laundering of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity".

Thanks to the joint investigative team between the Verona Prosecutor's Office and SPAK, it was found that the use of large financial resources flowing from Albania into the Italian economy also represented the final link in money laundering, carried out from abroad through a commercial company in Albania, owned by the criminal organization.

In Albania, suspicious real estate transactions were carried out, with the aim of preventing the traceability of the illegal origin of the money and in this way the organization benefited from "laundered" services, with the profit obtained from the suspicious transactions, which could be reused in real estate investments in Italian territory.

Also seized were the real estate and financial resources belonging to the administrator of a real estate company in Verona, owned by an Albanian couple, involved in the past in drug trafficking. They were considered to be the trusted people of the two brothers and turned out to be on the criminal organization's payroll. Checks were also carried out on the main subjects and their Italian assistants, with the aim of finding further evidence.

The criminal proceedings are in the preliminary investigation phase.

For the Verona Prosecutor's Office, this is the first case of an Albanian criminal organization investing in real estate in the territory of a European Union state, in this case, Italy.

The operation carried out confirms the importance of international cooperation between SPAK and Italian authorities in the fight against organized crime and money laundering.