EUROOPOL gives details of Albania's drug bust

EUROOPOL said ten suspected members of this Albanian organised criminal network have been arrested during the raids conducted on August 7th and 8th in Albania.

Albania's “Order forces, in co-ordination with colleagues from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, carried out this operation supported by EUROOPOL, against this clan-based criminal network”, was said in the statement.

According to EUROOPOL, investigations have shown this network has links to other international criminal organisations that are active throughout the European Union and beyond, reports REL, broadcast Periscope.

After the arrest of a key member of the organisation by Albanian authorities at the end of June 2025, the raids also led to the seizure of significant assets, including a different hotel, property and businesses, as well as a large amount of physical and digital evidence”, it was said in the statement.

The European bloc's agency said the operation was conducted after analyzing encrypted communications data made on the SkyeCC app. They found that there had been tons of cocaine shipments from Latin America to the main EU ports.

“Inventions have shown that for just one of these charges, the main object received more than $40 million in US dollars for its”, the report said.

According to the announcement, the head of the Albanian criminal organisation was responsible for organising remittances and investing in the purchase of large amounts of cocaine. It co-ordinated these criminal operations even from a distance, “based on encrypted modes of communication”.

Prior to his arrest, EUROOPOL said, he was on the run after the Albanian court confirmed the 21-year prison sentence pronounced by an Italian court for murder, deprivation of freedom, attempted hiding a corpse, threat, unlawful possession of explosives and ammunition, and obstruction of justice.

The Albanian organised criminal framework, which was under investigation, operated with a truly global scope, co-operating with other groups that enabled transports towards EU ports. He invested huge profits, totaling tens of millions of euros, on property and businesses throughout Albania and other European countries”.

During this operation, the EU agency sent an organised crime expert to Tirana, which offered support from a mobile office and facilitated co-operation between foreign law enforcement and Albanian forces. /Periscope