The Durrës Prosecution on Tuesday issued 33 security measures against individuals suspected of involvement in a hazardous waste trafficking scandal linked to the KURUM company, authorities said.

Of the total measures, 26 are pretrial detentions and seven are house arrests, targeting executives, company officials, customs officers and environmental authorities.

Among those placed in custody are E. D. administrator of Kurum International, and Y. S. Kurum, proxy administrator of the same company. From the Albanian company Sokolaj, arrests include Gj. S., the company’s owner, D. S., administrator of D.o.o Minerals, and O. P., a former administrator.

Prosecutors also ordered the arrest of several senior managers and specialists within KURUM, as well as shareholders and administrators of other companies involved in the waste trade.

The investigation has also implicated customs officials and environmental authorities. Five officials from the Durrës Customs Branch were placed under arrest, while former and current officials of the National Environment Agency (AKM) were placed under house arrest or detention, including former AKM director Arta Dollani and current AKM director Marjeta Përlala, who was placed under house arrest.

The case centers on 102 shipping containers containing about 210 tons of hazardous waste, originally destined for Thailand. The containers were returned to Albania in November 2024 after an alert raised by the environmental watchdog Basel Action Network.

Investigators found that the containers were loaded at the Port of Durrës in early July 2024, and that this was not the first suspected shipment, as a similar cargo had previously been blocked by Chinese customs authorities.

Authorities say the case represents one of the most serious environmental crime investigations in Albania in recent years, involving alleged abuse of office, falsification of documents and illegal international trafficking of dangerous waste.