Judicial Decision Dismissing Saimir Tahiri's Claims

Arrested in Italy for trafficking about 3.5 tonnes of cannabis, Moses Habilaj has not been an unknown person for Albanian justice. The 39-year-old who includes his wiretapping even former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri has escaped punishment for justice in 2005, the period when he was prosecuted by the Vlora Prosecutor for the prosecution of “content, processing and marketing narcotics in co-operation”.

BIRN holds a November 2005 decision by the Vlora court, [Click on the decision  where Moses Habilaj turns out to have been prosecuted and tried along with three other people, as 53kg of cannabis divided into 54 and a half packages, which had been prepared for sale, were found during an operation.

Investigations uncovered a trace of Habilaj's finger in the drug package, but the Vlora Court has sentenced him to 10 months and 20 days in prison on charges of “not reporting the crime”.

Habillas' ties to former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri and their mention of police contingents in cannabis cultivation were denounced for the first time in public by former Antidroga Officer in Vlora Dritan Zagan in 2015. According to Zagan, the Habilaj brothers moved in the interior minister's car and were immune to Vlora police.

In public statements after this indictment, Tahiri acknowledged that he had sold his car to one of the brothers Habilaj who had tribal ties, but was protected by the fact that there was no evidence that they were involved in the cultivation or trafficking of cannabis.

In charge of previous implications of the Habilaj brothers, Tahiri also repeated his interview on the “Opion” on October 19, 2017, where he admitted that he had not conducted verifications.

I should have asked who I was selling my car to. Without prejudice, and without thinking that this car had been sold to people who have criminal activity, I thought about looking for my car and going on vacation. This charges me with moral responsibility without discussion, but not guilt,” said Tahiri in Opinion.

Asked by BIRN, one of the prosecutors in the case that is investigating the “Habilaj” file in Randa Crime said they have had necessary and certain information that this person and members of his group are dealing with criminal activity.

According to the prosecutor, in many cases the joint police prosecutor's will has been lacking to investigate this group, even in some cases the Habilaj investigation has been abandoned and deconspirated, carrying the case for years.

The criminal proceedings, bearing 2005's 165th issue in charge of defendants Alliu, Moses Habilaj, Flamur Zeka and Ylli Hoxha, show that the narcotics divided into 54 and a half packages, which weighed 53kg, were found at the home of the citizens Mustafa Alliu in the village of Panaja of Vlora.

From the statements of citizens Mustafa Alliu, it has resulted in this amount of drugs belonging to the defendant, the Alliu Reward.

The prosecutor's part of the prosecution has carried out the chemical-use processing of the internal and external surfaces of the narcotics package and has resulted in the second sodium tape, on the inside, two traces belonging to one defendant, Moses Habilaj and the other to defendants Flamur Zeka. On one of the large surfaces of the package has been found the needle's palm of the defendant's award to Allahiu, while the defendant at the time had his fingerprints, Ylli Hoxha.

According to the Court's ruling that followed this proceedings, Moses Habilaj has admitted that he was aware of the amount of 53kg of drugs, since on a visit to Ali's house he had opened the glue. However, Habilaj has claimed that after having closed it again, he has advised the defendant of God's bounty to destroy him.

Prosecutor's representative, Dorian Taphilia, has been demanding a seven-year prison sentence for Moisiu Habilaj, who was then charged with the criminal work of “holding and processing narcotics plants”, but the Court has eventually dropped this requirement, condemning him to 10 months and 20 days in prison for “with crime malpractice”.

After accepting the reduced trial, the court sentenced Alliun to four years in prison, while Zeka and Hoxha were also sentenced for failing to report crime.

Lawyer Edward Vecan, who at the time protected Flamur Zeka, recalls that his client was a simple worker who had agreed to pack up the amount of drugs against the old 10 or 15 thousand dollars.

According to lawyer Vesani, these sentences were left in power and by the Vlora Court of Appeals.

Twelve years after the minimum sentence by the Vlora Court, Moisiu Habilaj is charged by the Catania Prosecutor for trafficking 3.5 tonnes of cannabis to Italy, in co-operation with 6 Albanians and four Italians during 2013-2017.

In the extensive investigation of Italian antidroga, Habilaj has been bugged while citing bribes or gifts to Tahiri and his family. These wiretaps, but other evidence also prompted the State Criminals Prosecutor to seek Albania's Parliament to authorize Tahiri's arrest as a suspected person in international drug trafficking.

But Socialist Party deputies in the Council of Order, Mandata and Immunity voted against the prosecution's request, warning the vote against arrest even at Wednesday's session in Albania's Parliament.