A series of raids in the Albanian capital of Tirana resulted in 15 arrests of alleged members of a major criminal organisation on Wednesday, Europol announced in a statement on Thursday.
The members of the criminal organisation are suspected of large-scale drug trafficking, contract killings and money laundering through cryptocurrency transactions. The criminal network mainly comprises family members and has multiple international branches, the European law enforcement agency stated.
The arrests resulted from a joint investigation involving the Albanian authorities and the Belgian, Dutch and French police. In addition to the arrests, police seized numerous possessions, including real estate and €1 million in cash.
The investigators linked the criminal network to the contracted killings of members of rival gangs. At least nine murders committed between 2019 and 2020 were connected to the group, with some occurring outside Albania.
The Belgian Federal Police contributed to the investigation by providing valuable data taken from the encrypted messaging service Sky ECC. The messaging platform was frequently used by criminal networks before it was cracked by law enforcement in 2021.
