The European cocaine market. Discovered as Dritan Rexhepi entered Ecuador in 2011 and alliances with the Italian mafia

In Ecuador, Italian police began to monitor carefully the operations of Albania's Bello Company and Ndangheta Italians, following Albanian boss Dritan Rexhepi's capture during an antidrug operation in Guayaquil in 2014.

Rexhepi arrived in Ecuador about 2011 as part of a wave of dangerous criminals, many of whom had deep ties to criminal groups in Europe. At the time, Ecuador was returning to a Transit Center for cocaine trafficking, as obtaining the residence was relatively easy thanks to the constitutional principle of “Universal citizenship”, approved in 2008. For foreigners, buying property and creating companies did not present major difficulties, according to antidrug agents.

According to the court files, Rexhepi, who had numerous false identities, arrived in Ecuador, presenting himself as a Greek businessman.

Until then, he was one of the most wanted criminals in Europe.

Albanians and Italians are allies for sending cocaine to Europe from the ports of Guayaquil and El Oro, thanks to the strong structures they have established in Ecuador for more than 15 years. The governments of Italy and Ecuador are developing co-operation projects for information exchange and training, with the aim of fighting more efficient money laundering and establishing new laws to curb the progress of these transnational groups.

A Powerful Criminal Alliance

A powerful alliance between Italian and Albanian mafia clans, as well as other criminal groups from the Balkans, supports trafficking cocaine and other drugs to large scale from Ecuador to Europe.

Albanians and Italians have built a strong partnership for drug trafficking from the ports of Guayaquil and El Oro, using facilities set up for more than 15 years in Ecuador and Colombia. In this country, they control traffic routes, logistics, the creation of companies for money laundering and export, as well as operational support from local gangs, which include thousands of invisible members and operators within the state, according to drug intelligence agencies in Ecuador and Europe, broadcasts tch.

This alliance is not new, it dates back to the late 1980s. Since that period, Albanians and other Balkan groups have been involved in criminal networks of cocaine trafficking and other related crimes, initially as subordinates of the Italian mafia.

In the late 1990s, about 10,600 Albanians, including dangerous criminals, emigrated illegally to Apulia, Italy, after the Albanian government undertook an unprecedented offensive to dismantle 23 criminal groups, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime, prepared by Walter Kemp. At that time, there were mass arrests in Albania for human trafficking, immigrant trafficking, arms trafficking and auto theft.

In the years to come, Albanians and Balkan clans were involved in heroin and cannabis trafficking, expanding their operations outside Europe.

Aligning in Latin America

Between 2008 and 2009, these groups arrived in Latin America to take control of cocaine trafficking, using Colombia and Ecuador as strategic bases of their operations, according to anti-drug agencies. From 2008 onward, the Balkans became a key centre for criminal groups looking for new suppliers on the European market. They arrived by presenting themselves as businessmen, exporters of fruit and raw materials.

In the world of organised crime, as in the real estate sector, the location is everything, the Global Initiative report notes. Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, two countries producing about 90% of world cocaine.

Another factor that helped expand the mafia was institutional weakness, corruption in the judicial system, and government decisions that weakened antidrug control, such as the closure of the American military base in Manta in 2009. This base had carried out hundreds of drug operations in the Pacific region for a decade.

Its closure opened the way for Albanians to establish their criminal structures and turn Ecuador into a strategic centre of their transnational business.

Ecuador Seeks Help From Italy

After 2020, the seizure of hundreds of tons of cocaine in Europe, which emerged from Ecuador, raised the alarm. Europe became the main drug destination, leaving the United States in second place. Albanians and other Balkan clans, in partnership with the Italian mafia, were the authors of this strategic change.

Because of the rapid penetration of these mafia groups in the public and private sectors in Ecuador, government authorities requested Italy's assistance. The Italian state is offering specialised training under the direction of an expert prosecutor, helping to fight money laundering and drafting new legal packages and reforms.

The first two Ecuadoran institutions to seek support from Italy were the Financial Analysis Unit (UAFE) and Company Superintendent. Italy has a broad experience in the fight against mafia since the years of É80 and has direct interest in this co-operation, as cocaine trafficking has significantly affected Italian and European cities, according to official sources.

Although the mafia has lost ground within Italy, it has been strengthened internationally thanks to its ties with Italian families deployed abroad and alliances with Albanian clans and other criminal cartels.