Tahiri

Fugitive Albanian Ex-Police Officer Convicted of Drug Trafficking

Albania Special Prosecutors Office in Tirana. Photo: Albanian Prosecution Office.

Tirana's Special Court Against Organised Crime and Corruption found Sokol Bode, chief of police in the southern Albanian village of Dhermi, guilty in absentia.

Bode has been on the run since Italian police cracked a cannabis smuggling ring dubbed 'the Habilaj Brothers.'

‘They’re Police’: Hapless Albanian Drug Couriers and a Minister’s Muscle

Their story, contained in court documents seen by BIRN, speaks to the well-placed connections that grease the wheels of Albanian drug trafficking, connections that in the case of Seferi and Ajdini stretched all the way to the security detail of the country's then interior minister.

Drug deal negotiated under police guard

Albania Fires Prosecutor in Ex-Minister's Drugs Case

In a statement released on Wednesday Marku said that his office believes that the sacking of Hajdarmataj "will bring results in fast and effective penal proceedings for cases with a high priority."

Hajdarmataj however told BIRN that he didn't knew the reason for his firing, but he expected to be able to continue to work on Tahiri's case.

Albania Ex-Minister Quits Parliament to Fight Smuggling Claims

Six months after Albania's ruling Socialist Party used its parliamentary majority to block a request for his arrest on suspicion of drug smuggling, Albania's longest-serving Minister of Interior, Saimir Tahiri, on Thursday said he will resign as an MP, losing his immunity from arrest in the process.

Albania Ex-Minister Accused in Drug-Smuggling Scandal

Media in Italy and Albania on Tuesday started to release transcripts of Italian police wiretaps of alleged drug smugglers, in which they mention former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri as someone they paid off with drug money.

The alleged drug smugglers speculate in the wiretaps that Tahiri used the money in Albania's electoral campaign.

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