Arezzo, 7 June 2024 – An illegal waste dump near the port of Antwerp marked the beginning of a cross-border investigation that ultimately led to the dismantling of an Albanian-based transnational criminal organization involved in large-scale drug trafficking and armed robberies.
During the search of the waste, empty packages of cocaine and various effects used to cut the drug were discovered. Since this initial discovery, several illegal landfills have been found containing dozens of empty packages of cocaine and heroin, as well as production and packaging materials. In total, 17 suspects (including one in Arezzo) were arrested as a result of a coordinated operation on 4 June between Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Two other gang members had been galready arrested in Holland and Switzerland during the investigation phases.
In Arezzothe Carabinieri of the provincial command, assisted by the staff of the CC Dog Units of Florence and Pesaro, carried out a European investigation order issued by the Court of Antwerp (Belgium) and validated with a recognition decree issued by the Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism District Prosecutor’s Office at the Court from Florence, tracking down and arresting a thirty-three year old Albanian, as he was accused of drug dealing. The arrested person, in the same operational context, was also notified of an execution order for imprisonment, issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Arezzo, as he will have to serve a sentence of two years, ten months and six days of imprisonment, for drug crimes committed in Civitella Val di Chiana (AR) in 2016.
The investigation was conducted by the Belgian local police in Antwerp in collaboration with the Belgian Federal Police and the police forces of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and for Italy cwith the provincial Carabinieri commands of Arezzo and Ravenna. Europol coordinated the international activities. The dozens of searches carried out on the orders of the investigating judge of Antwerp are the result of intensive collaboration with Europol and various foreign police forces. These took place in Belgium, but also in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria. The investigation and the intervention itself were supported by the @ON network, financed by the European Commission and led by the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (DIA). The organisation’s suspects, investigators explain, are not new to these activities because the leaders have already been convicted in France in 2014 for identical crimes with prison sentences of 10 and 12 years.
Other suspects in the organization received sentences of 3 to 7 years, depending on their role in the case. In Belgium, to identify hidden compartments used to contain drugs, specialized personnel from the Antwerp police area and customs were called upon. The searches were supported by various drug-sniffing dogs from the canine support directorate of the Federal Police and the Antwerp police area. The drone team from the Antwerp Police Area provided air support. The investigation conducted by the Antwerp police revealed that an Albanian criminal organization was behind these illegal landfills. This organization was involved in the import and export of cocaine and heroin to various European countries, using vehicles equipped with double bottoms. During the investigations, 2 of the association’s transporters had already been arrested in the Netherlands and Switzerland. 36,000 euros and 5 kilograms of cocaine and heroin were found in the vehicles, equipped with hidden compartments. The organization not only transported and sold drugs, but also collaborated with another Albanian criminal group to rob rival clans’ drug transports. She also had an arsenal of firearms at her disposal and in the past she had been involved in an assassination attempt (perpetrated by the “Aretine” Albanians) of a rival in Albania. The organization would specialize in cutting large quantities of narcotics, from a few kilos to hundreds of kilos and for this purpose, chemicals, mainly acetone, were purchased on a large scale.
