Conversations on Sky ECC reveal the involvement of a police officer in drug trafficking, cover-up operations and destruction of evidence in favor of a criminal group in Vlora. The SPAK investigation reveals that he was part of a wider network of incriminated officials.

In December 2020, Rezart Kuçi – then the chief of crime at the Vlora Police – was wondering how to secure “two months of unpaid leave.” The police officer had no family or health problems, but was pursuing a “business opportunity” on the coast of Almeria in Spain.

According to an investigative file based on SKY ECC communications, Kuçi was preparing to travel to the Iberian Peninsula not as a police officer, but as an investor and logistical coordinator for the trafficking of a huge amount of cannabis from Morocco to Spain.

He had also just secured a 14-meter dinghy equipped with three Yamaha 300 engines to carry out the trafficking.

"I invested what I had and I'm waiting," he wrote from Barcelona to a colleague on the encrypted Sky ECC app, data that was forwarded to the Special Prosecution Office by French authorities.

Conversations on Sky ECC show the police officer involved since before 2020 as a member and collaborator of the organization under the leadership of Inez Hajrulla, one of the well-known crime figures in Vlora.

"During the analysis of his communications, at times when he should have been exercising his function as a police officer and serving the citizen, he was found to be serving or expressing willingness to serve an illegal activity of a criminal group," states the decision of the Special Court of March of this year against officer Rezart Kuçi, Inez Hajrulla and 6 others.

He was probably not the only one. In its summary of the facts, the court mentions many “public officials” who served the criminal organization and emphasizes that the group’s communications raise suspicions that they “interacted with each other with the aim of interfering in the judicial system” in favor of collaborators under investigation or in trial.

The findings of this investigation by the Special Prosecution Office are another indication of the infiltration of organized crime into the highest hierarchies of law enforcement agencies. Official SPAK reports point out that by the end of 2023, around 70 police officers were under investigation for involvement in organized crime.

Kuçi is among the last on this list to be arrested by the Police Supervision Agency in an action against Hajrulla's organization in early March of this year, while he was transferred on duty to Kukës.

He is accused of “abuse of office” in several episodes, “drug trafficking” and “participation in a structured criminal group.” Kuçi was the only member of the group who ended up in handcuffs during the March operation.

The other two defendants, Flodian Plaku (alias Mamo) and former police officer Hamëz Demushi, were notified of the new security measures in the cell where they were being held in isolation for other crimes in Albania and Switzerland.

The other members of the group, Inez Hajrulla, Ervis Matodashaj, Arben Memishaj, Argest Xheza and Mendu Duka, are wanted. They are accused of murder, assassinations and drug trafficking from Africa and Latin America to northern European countries.

Strategic crime asset

A detailed analysis of Rezart Kuçi's communications reveals a systematic betrayal of his duty as a police officer. According to the prosecution, Kuçi was not simply a passive beneficiary, but an active participant who informed traffickers and instructed them on how to evade justice.

In the episode of Flodian Plaku's debunking in October 2020, when Anti-Drug forces surrounded the latter's apartment, Kuçi revealed his role as protector.

“Clear your back… don’t stay there yourself… leave the old man alone… until we find out for sure,” he wrote to Plaku, while his colleagues waited for the order to intervene. When Plaku asked him if he could ask someone at Antidrugs, Kuçi replied with a certainty that testifies to the compromise of his other colleagues: “I’ll ask one of us… I’ll ask… I’ll try to find out as soon as possible.”

In conversations with his accomplice in crime, Kuçi mocks his colleagues on duty, mocking their zeal. "These villagers of ours here have wasted their time," he writes, after earlier informing Plaku that he would read an officer's email communications to understand what was going on.

But this involvement was just the tip of the iceberg. Kuçi, as the conversations reveal, was involved in the destruction of material evidence in real time. During a search of a wanted person's apartment, Kuçi found a phone containing a photo of a rubber boat that was to be used for trafficking.

Instead of referring the evidence, he notified Ervis Matodashaj, another member of the group. As soon as Matodashaj confirmed that the vehicle belonged to “friends,” Kuçi concluded the process: “Ok, I’m removing the photos from VK.” This action, according to the prosecution, “violates the legal obligation to preserve evidence and constitutes a legal violation in relation to the functional duty.”

He then used his access to police systems to help the group collect drug-trafficking debts. The court ruling includes a conversation between Kuçi and an unnamed contact, who asked for his help in finding two debtors who owed him 40 euros for a shipment of “chocolate” (hashish). The crime officer logged into the state system TIMS and sent not only the data, but also their personal photos, guiding the criminals.

"I found the neighborhood... you're waiting, I didn't find the right door," he writes. For the prosecution, this use of official access "outside the legal function and not in the function of duty... for private interests... has violated the public interest and data security."

Although Kuçi is the only officer arrested and charged in this case, the court analyzes that it is about more public officials who, according to it, "are suspected of being directly engaged in the development of criminal activity of corruption and other illegal activities carried out by this criminal group."

The decision states that these persons "taking advantage of their position and access to information obtained due to their duties, assist other members of the criminal group in carrying out criminal activity."

Death chat

Conversations on Sky ECC show that while Rezart Kuçi was the group's "shield", Inez Hajrulla and Ervis Matodashaj were the 'swords' of this organization.

They organized and carried out the mafia execution of Gentjan Qarri, known as Geçe, on February 6, 2021 in Vlora. Investigation data shows that it was not a random murder, but an operation directed live via the Sky ECC platform. The prosecution has documented how weeks before the assassination, the organizers showed interest in their rivals: “Cipua, Doqja, Eljus and a Geco… I know.”

In addition to Gentjan Qarri (Geço) for whom the assassination was being prepared, the targets also seemed to be Armand Sulejmani (Çipuri), Elius Thoti and Fatmir Hyseni (Doqja), rivals in the bloody saga of revenge in Vlora. There were assassination attempts against Sulejmani and Thoti that left them wounded. Fatmir Hyseni is wanted.

The plan involved placing GPS devices on the opponents' cars and recruiting people near them: "Let's put GPS on them... let's finish this whole thing off. Meet the one I said we need, brother. I want him as a driver, he's a pilot."

The scenes created by reading the conversations are similar to those of clashes in films about Italian mafia organizations. Hajrulla and Matodashaj appear to be afraid that their rivals are preparing to attack, that they have removed their families from Vlora and that they will do "harm."

The conversations often become contradictory and it is unclear who the rival group's target was. Initially, it seems to be Hajrulla, who is not in Albania, but says he will return to take control of the situation, while Matodashaj opposes it as an action that would put him in danger.

In a second moment, it is Hajrulla who calms Matodashaj down, asking him not to get involved himself and not to leave the house. Conversations on Sky ECC show that the organization was preparing for a clash and part of it was hidden and waiting, until the victim made the wrong move.

On February 4, 2021, a first attempt failed due to a technical defect in the weapon. Inez Hajrulla wrote to Matodashaj in a tense tone: “He’s stuck, he’s going to be stuck, brother, they haven’t done anything yet.” Two days later, nothing was left to chance. While the shooters fired over 20 times at Gentjan Qarri, Hajrulla and Matodashaj monitored the police’s movements via operational radios. “He’s done, brother, he’s dead, hold the radio, help them.” When the ambulance arrived, Matodashaj reported: “He’s dead, he’s almost dead.”

As soon as the target's death is confirmed, Hajrulla celebrates in the chat: "Well, let's kiss." To seal the operation, Matodashaj sends the infamous code "-1" to another collaborator, accompanied by a photo of the television news: "Assassinations in Vlora. Gentjan Qarri executed."

According to the prosecution, this sending of the message after the murder “is a kind of code as a signal for the elimination of the target, which he had previously notified him about.” This episode proves that the organizers monitored and celebrated the physical elimination of the opponent as a business victory.

After the assassination, the police are looking for Matodashaj and Hajrulla as suspects. But the case falls into Kuçi's hands, and the latter immediately informs the group, even teaching them how to behave when they come into contact with the police.

"Stay serious when I come. The big guy has given the order. Don't break it... because I have the situation in hand," he wrote to Matodashaj.

Transnational trafficking syndicate

Beyond local assassinations, this organization operated, according to the Prosecution, as a transnational syndicate with financial power and geographical reach that openly challenged state authorities.

In total, the investigation documents a turnover of around 1.3 tons of cocaine and around 26 million euros attempted or realized for the markets of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy. Around 800 kg of marijuana were seized in North Macedonia and Turkey, while the group also had an active project to traffic over 4 tons of hashish (chocolate) from Morocco to Spain via modified rafts.

This narcotics machine produced a cash flow that, according to calculations based on market value, exceeds 30 million euros over a period of almost two years covered by the investigations, with hundreds of thousands of euros spent on logistics, equipment and bribes alone.

The file evidences cash transfers of over 310 thousand euros to Albania, advance payments to Ecuadorian cartels of 195 thousand dollars and high costs for engines and infrastructure that reached the figure of 60 thousand euros in a single purchase. In this context, the bribe of 1,200 euros for officer Rezart Kuçi's Sky ECC device was considered by the group as a negligible "maintenance expense" for the security of a network that moved millions.

The most spectacular episode of trafficking, documented in the SPAK investigations, is related to the attempt of Flodian Plaku and Mendu Duka to bring cocaine directly from Ecuador to Hamburg. The prosecution has documented how on December 14, 2020, the group made the payment of $195,000 with destination Guayaquil, as an advance payment for the goods. The plan included a surgical coordination with the “planner” in the port of Hamburg, the person in charge of removing the drugs from the port. The prosecution notes in its acts: “From the analysis of communications and logistical elements it results that the actions have passed the stage of simple preparation, entering the stage of the attempt to carry out the criminal offense, where the division of roles was clear and the transnational coordination was complete.”

However, this transoceanic operation failed at the last moment.

When the old man entered the CTA terminal in Hamburg at midnight to empty container HLBU 2710351, he found a bitter surprise. His audio messages testify to his panic: "Oh brother, it's like nothing happened. The key has been changed, ours was yellow, this is a green key."

The prosecution explains that it was about 750 kilograms of cocaine blocked by Dutch customs during transit in the port of Rotterdam.

On another line, Hamëz Demushi managed trafficking in the Balkans with a shocking tolerance for losses. When 542 kilograms of marijuana were seized in North Macedonia, Demushi joked about the financial bill in the chat.

"How did it come to 500 thousand euros at work... and we're getting it with interest on Bentley and G Class. It's not a sin, it's killing us. Hahahahhah. We lost a truck."

This despair coupled with humor shows unimaginable volumes of money, where the loss of half a ton of drugs was considered a mere "work accident."

The activity of this group, according to the prosecution, proves an extreme social danger, as they possessed the financial and human resources to withstand large losses.

In another episode investigated by the prosecution, Argest Xheza, who is identified as the man in charge of barge and "cash" logistics, coordinated shipments to Italy and Greece.

On January 21, 2021, a conversation reveals the counting of over 310 thousand euros in cash being returned to Albania.

"There were 310,930 brothers, they were counted in the presence of the one who brought them, they were closed," says Xheza, while explaining that the money was counted "by machine at the exchange."/BIRN