By Manjola Bregasi

Today it is undeniable that the communist state led by Enver Hoxha had a very important and potent Intelligence and Counterintelligence system. Also undeniable is the fact that very little has been said about the Albanian agents and agency, which were shrouded in a mysterious fog conditioned by this profession itself. Everything was done in secret and camouflaged as best as possible. The goal was clear: to inform the state about any possible activity against it. The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense with their Intelligence sectors had to work hard.

It is often thought that the regime managed to last so long precisely thanks to the efficient activity of the spies, who in most cases had been trained in Russian intelligence schools. Enver Hoxha had already created his communist state and had to be very careful to protect it from anyone who tried to undermine it. And it seems that in the first years after liberation, the greatest danger to the country was posed by reactionary emigrants who had fled during the war.

These were representatives of different currents, nationalists or Zogists, but also former supporters of Enver Hoxha, who did not agree with the regime he created and found the opportunity to leave for Europe. But how were they behaving in the countries where they had fled? Was it true that they were organizing and preparing to find ways to overthrow communism? What about the governments of neighboring countries, what were their goals? All these were questions that required clarification. But how did the Albanian state of that time manage to provide all the necessary information?

Following his story, the former director of Political Intelligence, Jonuz Mersini, reveals details from his life and mysterious missions across Europe. How did Albanian spies disguise themselves under the guise of diplomacy? How did they manage to convince immigrants to cooperate, thus risking not only the debunking, but also their lives. Here's how an spies equipped with a diplomatic passport carried out illegal tasks.

Mr. Mersini, for a part of your life you were involved in Albanian Intelligence in several countries. What was your task there and how efficient was Albanian Intelligence then?

My tasks in different places and times have been diverse, however, the main goal of my work in exploration, as well as that of other explorers, especially outside Albania, has been to find and select certain elements that could serve in Albanian exploration.

Was your stay outside Albania considered a legal or illegal assignment? What was the procedure followed in such cases?

It depended. There were cases where my duty was only agency, there were other cases as well, for example: in our legation in Italy, where I was transferred in 1954, in addition to the duty of managing the residency, I also performed the legal duty of advisor to the Legation.

What was the prevailing climate in Italy and where did you focus your activity?

First, I would like to dwell briefly on the events that preceded my transfer to Rome. It seems to me that around 1951-1952, in the Intelligence Directorate, in the Ministry of the Interior, our residency in Rome had given the center information that a sabotage group was being prepared from the center of Malta to land in Albania. The “Free Albania” committee, led by Mit'hat Frashëri and Western intelligence, Ahmet Zogu and his followers with Abaz Kupi at the head and Alush Leshanaku, one of the most active leaders of the anti-us emigration, who had entered several times across the border from Greece, was activated in this activity.

This time, according to the data of our residency in Rome, the diversion group would be larger and would include several leaders of this emigration, which would operate in Northern and Central Albania. The group consisted of Ndue Gjonmarku, Haki Blloshmi, Alush Leshanaku, etc., and the Italian Reconnaissance and the “Independent Bloc” were prepared, which also included Ismail Vërlaci. Ismail operated from Rome and was married to an Italian woman.

After the capture of Alush Leshanaku's group, Isamil Vërlaci, the son of Shefqet Vërlaci, who had been a housemate of Leshanaku, became confused and for a certain period remained passive in his actions. It was precisely this moment that I decided to use to infiltrate a man who I thought would greatly help our Discovery, in the direction of the diversionary groups.

And what did you decide to do?

Shortly after starting my duty in Rome, I came to Albania for some work and at the same time I was going to take my usual leave. In a conversation with the director of Intelligence at the time, General Zoi Themeli, I decided to talk to him about Ismail Vërlac's situation. Apparently, Zoi discussed this fact with the Minister of the Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, and after a few days they both called me to the minister's office.

“You must go immediately to Elbasan and meet the daughter of Shefqet Vërlac, (Ismail's sister)”, – the minister ordered me. She had been put in our service after the capture and murder of Alush Leshanaku and had provided a lot of interesting information. Kadri Hazbiu and Zoi Themeli instructed me to talk to her about her brother's serious condition and to ask her to write a letter, in which she would tell him about the strong political situation in Albania and the fact that she herself had already been put in the service of the State Security organs.

In the letter she would write, she was supposed to tell her brother that Alushi himself, after his capture and conviction, had contributed to the State Security and that his murder had been accidental, without giving any further explanation for this. I was supposed to take this letter from her, in which she would tell her brother that he should not only cease his activities against his homeland, but also call on him to put himself in the service of the Albanian Security. And the truth is, she helped us a lot and without any obligation.

Did you go meet this woman?

Not just once. In secret ways, I met several times in Elbasan with Shefqet Vërlac's daughter, who, although she was old, was well-behaved and was a beautiful woman.

How did you react?

Listen, the Albanian Reconnaissance was never aggressive. We were not preparing the ground to conquer any country. On the contrary, we wanted to defend those 28 thousand square kilometers that history left us. Fortunately, there were also those who escaped who did not confuse the homeland with its political system. Some of them knew about the secret Tito-Venizellos treaty for the division of Albania and they could not agree that for the sake of overthrowing the communist system, they would accept that their homeland be divided between Greek and Yugoslav chauvinists.

When the name Albania no longer existed, what value would the system have? This is the contingent we relied on in our work. In this specific case, after I explained to her who I was and where I served, she agreed to talk. I explained everything about her brother and asked her to write me the letter we needed to put him in the service of the State Security organs. She agreed and wrote everything I asked her. In the letter, she also wrote about some of their family issues. We parted in a very correct way. She was smart and assessed the situation correctly.

What did you do next? Did you meet Ismail?

I received the letter and when I returned to Rome, the first thing I decided to do was meet him. I knew where he lived so I decided to wait for him in front of the house. I also took with me one of our detectives in Italy, Kleanth Andoni, to have him as a backup, in case Ismaili reacted by notifying the Italian police. As soon as I saw him coming, I called his name. At first he didn't want to stop. Apparently he knew me and knew who I was.

“Don’t be afraid,” I said, “I just want to give you a letter from your sister in Elbasan,” and I handed her the letter. She took it, opened the envelope, and glanced at it quickly, shaking her head in surprise at what she was reading. Taking advantage of those moments of silence, I asked her to go to a nearby café to talk.

Did you object?

No. He just told me to wait until he told his wife he would be late. He arrived after about half an hour and we sat in the Piazza del Popolo, where we talked for a long time.

During this conversation, did you introduce yourself with your real identity?

Of course. Now my goal was for him to agree to cooperate with us. He read and reread the letter my sister sent him several times and did not believe that she and Alushi had been put in the service of the State Security. “They were put in this service and without any coercion,” I replied. I emphasized this last point to him several times, because I understood, although he did not say it outright, that he thought that they had been coerced into service.

Since the conversation was getting too long, I invited him to have lunch at a restaurant, but he refused, explaining that his wife was waiting for him at home for lunch. During the conversation, he tried to put himself on an equal footing. I understood this and said to him: “I am a representative of the state in our embassy, ​​and you are just a political immigrant, acting against your homeland and nothing else.”

“But in the end, what do you want from me?” he asked me nervously. I told him that he was asked to act as his sister told him in Elbasan, that is, to serve the homeland. “Whatever your political beliefs, the homeland is there, for you and for me. I am not asking you to blow up bridges or factories, I am not asking you to become a terrorist, but to protect your homeland from any hostile activity. Do as you wish. No one is forcing you. But I advise you to join those who care about their country.” These were my words.

Did the other agent who was with you continue to stay nearby during these conversations?

Cleanthi was sitting in another café near us, watching for any movement from the Questura nearby. We did this because I suspected that Ismaili, while he was entering the house, would notify the Italian Counterintelligence organs.

And how did the conversation with Ismail end?

After nervous replies, more from him and less from me, he agreed to meet again, but with two conditions: first, that we not ask him anything about the situation in the Italian state and Italy's activity against us, with the excuse that he had obtained Italian citizenship and could not act against it, and second, that we not ask him anything about the situation and activity of Albanian emigrants, when he was acting on the instructions and initiative of the Italian government, because in that case it was called activity against his state, and he could not betray the friends with whom he had lived for years in Italy.

"With these conditions that you set, sir, then in what directions can you be valuable to us and on what problems can you inform us about the activity against Albania"?! He told me that he could give me data on the activity of American, Greek and Yugoslav intelligence, which were actively operating from their centers in West Germany, Ioannina and Titograd. "In all three of these centers, there is active activity against you and I am providing data on these activities and I will inform you", - he said.

Did you agree to these conditions?

I accepted it month by month, with the aim of gradually integrating him into our service and then providing me with information about active immigration against us.

Were you able to get information from him?

During my time at the Albanian Legation in Rome, I met him several times, visiting his home. He gave me some information about the activities of the Yugoslav Intelligence Service from their center in Titograd and the Greek Intelligence Service from Ioannina. In the last meeting, Ismaili also gave me a list of Albanians who had gathered and were training in one of the American Intelligence centers in Munich, West Germany.

I sent this list to the Intelligence Directorate in the first months of 1955, before I was transferred as an advisor to the Albanian Mission in New York, at the UN. After my departure from Italy, I did not find out what happened to Ismail, because it was not allowed to ask about problems of agencies that you were no longer involved with…!”/ Memorie.al