Prosecution File: How Kosovo's Suspected Drug Trafficking Network Operated

In the early hours Tuesday morning, Kosovo Police, in co-operation with Kosovo Special Prosecutor and European Police Authority, made five arrests in an action distributed in five Kosovo cities, reports REL, broadcast Periscope.

The event began in persecution of a group suspected of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Called “White Star” (White Star), the operation provided key evidence of the Sky ECC platform, the communications in which they were decrypted by European authorities in 2021.

According to the Special Prosecutor's File, which has seen Radio Free Europe, suspects since the beginning of 2019 have participated in the activity of an organised criminal group, which deals with <x0 ... acquisition, possession, distribution and unauthorized selling of narcotics”.

The Prosecution document reportedly trafficked cocaine from South American states; heroin from Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey; as well as marijuana from Albania, Northern Macedonia and Spain.

In Kosovo, members of this criminal group make the mix of narcotic with bicarbon sodas and other compounds with the aim of adding weight, then package the same by means of a car of pressure and narcotic, placing it in various products”, says the Prosecutor's Document.

According to the prosecution, drugs were then transported through transport companies towards Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, and other European Union countries.

In addition to narcotics trafficking, the five arrested are also suspected of money laundering.

According to the prosecution, they allegedly made the <x0 use of criminal activity transferred to various businesses, founded by suspects or persons close to them”.

Part of the tools, according to the document, were converted to playable and real estate, including land, homes, housing and cars.

The arrest of suspects was supported by the EU law enforcement agency Europol, and by the authorities of France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

According to Europol, the criminal group operated from Kosovo, while its members co-ordinated international drug trafficking, and managed to clean up illegal profits in several European states.

In announcing the action on apprehending suspects, Europol said that from the start of the investigation (related to the Sky ECC platform), 42 persons have been investigated, 76 raids have been conducted and assets of an estimated total value of about 80m euros have been seized.

According to Kosovo's Special Prosecutor, the activity of the arrested yesterday is related to a case investigated in advance during 2025, in the action called “Cylle the Broken”.

In a December report last year, the prosecution had announced that 33 persons were in custody, under suspicion of drug trafficking, money laundering and other illegal acts.

Special Prosecutor Fatos Ajvazi told Radio Free Europe that the five arrested on June 9th are not considered leaders of the alleged criminal structure.

At least, so far, this has not resulted. These are members of the groups we already have in custody”, Ajvazi suggested.

According to him, the main evidence in this case has been communication provided by the decrypted platform Sky ECC.

The “ [Communifications on Sky ECC] have been the main evidence, but we've been linked to the other” evidence, he said.

Ajvazi explained that messages were initially accepted by Europol, and then provided through international judicial co-operation by French authorities.

He added that from the investigations thus far, including last year's cases, there has been a halt for 80m euros' assets.

According to the prosecutor, persons arrested in Kosovo have developed activity mainly within the country, but have had activities even abroad.

The case against the last five suspects, and that of suspects arrested earlier, continues to be in the investigation phase.

While there is still no indictment of the five suspects detained Tuesday, the court is expected to decide Wednesday whether to send them into custody. /Periscope/