Belgium: Six Albanians Arrested, Over 230 Kg Cocaine Seized
Albanian authorities have cooperated with the Belgian and German police, in the framework of which the international operation "ATOS" was concluded and 6 Albanians were arrested, the police trumpeted Monday.
As a result of this operation, a total of 232 kilograms of cocaine and 200 thousand euros were seized, as well as weapons. "ATOS" is a continuation of "Paraguay" operation, where 10 other Albanians were previously handcuffed, on charges of drug trafficking.
The arrested persons are:
- Musa Gjikola, 34 years old and Genti Balliu alias Flamur Balliu, 37 years old, resident in Tirana;
- Ramazan Rraja, 27 years old and Fioralb Rraja, 24 years old, resident in Nikla of Fushë Kruja;
- Bledar Pepaj, 29 years old, resident in Puka; Fatmir Xhecuka., 33 years old, resident of Laç;
- K.N. (Lithuanian citizen) and S. C. (Greek citizen).
“This criminal group functioned by loading narcotics into containers of bananas from Latin America, hiding the narcotics in banana crates and in the body of the containers.
After containers equipped with GPS by traffickers arrived at their destination, the traffickers, in order not to be identified and detected, organized armed robberies of the narcotics from warehouses or banana roasting roomsâ€, clarified the Albanian law enforcement.