Albania’s Special Prosecution against Corruption (SPAK) has issued an official statement on a large-scale joint operation with Italian authorities targeting an international drug-trafficking group composed mainly of Albanian nationals.

At SPAK’s request, the Special Court Against Corruption and Organised Crime authorised searches at the homes and premises of 21 suspects, carried out on Thursday by State Police judicial officers.

The investigation—conducted within a Joint Investigation Team with Italy’s Brescia Anti-Mafia Directorate and prosecutors in Switzerland—uncovered a structured criminal network operating from Albania and extending across Italy. According to SPAK, the group trafficked cocaine from South America into northern Europe via maritime routes and transported it onwards to Italy using heavy-goods vehicles.

Italian authorities have already seized more than 1.3 tonnes of cocaine, which investigators believe was stored in six logistics bases across Italy before being distributed. The network is also suspected of collecting large sums of cash from drug sales and transferring the money to the group’s leaders through “money mules,” including several bus drivers operating between Italy and Albania.

During the Italian phase of the operation, 10 members of the group were arrested in flagrante, and police seized around €550,000 in cash, 10 vehicles, a semi-automatic pistol, and 130 kg of narcotics, with an estimated street value of €12 million.

Of the 24 suspects for whom Italian authorities have issued security measures, six are located in Albania, three of whom have been arrested.

SPAK also announced that evidence gathered during the investigation indicates that Igli Haxhiaj, an officer of the Special Operational Force within the State Police, leaked confidential procedural information to suspects in exchange for illicit payments. He is accused of revealing investigative secrets and failing to perform his official duties in accordance with the law.