The show "On Target"

For decades, Lezha has been transformed into a city where blood feuds have become a saga that has claimed many lives. As is the case between the Nikulaj and Lekstakaj families. Two ancient families in this city, which have lost many of their members. An endless river of blood that started for a ridiculous amount of money of 10 thousand old leks, exactly 30 years ago. Families that today pay large sums of money to extinguish each other.

A conflict that seems difficult to end between two tribes, which in the last 3 years alone have lost 3 members to mutual gunfire. Families that are now isolated, as well as children who are growing up in trauma, and a solution seems distant.

Nikolin Marku was precisely one of the many victims of this bloody and endless conflict between the Nikulaj and Lekstakaj tribes.

He had not been out of his apartment for long when he was shot dead by a barrage of bullets, which took his life at the door of the shop where he had just bought a bottle of Coca-Cola, in the village of Balldre, Lezha. On the afternoon of the crime, he was in his apartment with other family members when he got up and took his brother's car to drive to the nearest shop.

A shop located no more than 1 km from his house. Such a rush that he left the house with the first pair of slippers he found on the doorstep. A rush that was also evident in the way he left the vehicle he was traveling in near the shop, where he stopped to have lunch, that hot July afternoon.

The car was found running, just as he had left it, just 10 meters in front of the market, where he was about to be shot by a vehicle waiting outside.

Nikolin Marku, who was found lying lifeless on the steps of the store, where he had just left with a bottle of Coca-Cola in his hand. The bottle of Coca-Cola was found just a few meters away from his body, as were the summer slippers he was wearing.

A premeditated murder, which even the victim himself and his family could have foreseen. Or at least they could have been aware of it for a long time.

Since at least when another murder had shaken Lezha. Where for years his tribe and family had lived in a long and deep enmity with the Nikulaj tribe. The Nikulaj, with whom Lekstakaj, the victim's real surname, were linked in a long and endless series of bloody episodes that started in the mid-90s and that had not stopped even in recent years.

The assassination that stirred up old grudges once again and turned weapons against each other was that against the influential local businessman and politician in the Lezha area, Ardian Nikulaj.

Nikulaj who was shot to death inside his bar in Shëngjin at noon on April 19, 2023. By a masked person with a diving suit on his head who approached him and shot him to death with several bullets.

A person who was later identified as Ruben Saraiva, a Portuguese citizen. Who had arrived in Albania on February 14, 2023 and who was met at the airport by Edmond Haxhia and the latter's fiancée.

Haxhia, who is Lekstakaj's nephew and is accused by the Lezha Prosecution Office as the organizer and financier of the murder of Ardian Nikulaj. Thus taking the blood of his family. A murder which then apparently reopened the "Pandora's box" in Lezha once again.

Bringing back the dark times between the two tribes, where bullets spared no one. As was the tragic end of 42-year-old Nikolin Marku, the father of a minor girl.

That he could not escape the enmity between the two tribes. Or at least that's what his relatives claim.

Who believe that his murder is related to the blood feud that the Nikulajs have with the Lekstakajs. The murder of Nikolin Marku, which surprisingly came on the 3rd anniversary of Ardian Nikulaj's execution.

But why do Nikolin Marku's family members believe that his murder was carried out by the Nikulaj clan, as a sign of revenge for the elimination of the businessman?

Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago, the Lezha Court sentenced Portuguese Ruben Saraiva, found guilty of the execution of Ardian Nikulaj, to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group involved in the murder continue to face justice in the UK, including Edmond Haxhia, who was said to be the financier and organizer of Nikulaj's murder.

What was the family relationship of the victim Nikolin Marku, alias Lekstakaj, to Edmond Haxhia, the person suspected of ordering Nikulaj's murder?

The murder of Nikolin Marku, which, as we said, came exactly three months after the execution of Ardian Nikulaj.

Was this a coincidence, or did the perpetrators of the crime want to leave a message?

Or was someone else interested in taking advantage of the enmity between the two tribes, and found precisely this way to reignite the fire between the two families?

But before we get to these allusions, let's first focus on the way Nikolin Marku was executed, in the village of Balldre, Lezha, on that afternoon of July 19, 2023.

Investigation File

On July 19, 2023, the Lezha Local Police Directorate received a report that a person was shot with a firearm in the village of Balldre, who died as a result of the injuries he sustained. From the preliminary actions at the scene, it turned out that this citizen was Nikolin Marku (Lekstakaj). And that the scene of the incident was located on the Lezha-Shkodër road axis, on the left side of the road, in front of the 'D*****a' restaurant. Specifically, in the front part of the apartment of citizen P. Gj, where in front of his apartment there is a food and various products market, also owned by him, at the door of which there are four steps and then an open area as a parking lot in front.

This would be the exact spot where Nikolin Marku was found dead, shot with several bullets.

The victim who was seen lying on the ground, covered in blood, beaten before he could properly descend the stairs of the store, where he had not been for long.

Mark, who had lost his balance as a result of the barrage of bullets fired at him.

Something that was also noticed in the way they were scattered at the scene, the bottle of Coca-Cola he had just bought and the summer flip-flops he was wearing at that moment.

Investigation File

From the examination of the scene, it was found that on the stairs in front of the market, lying on the ground was the body of a man, male, upside down, covered in blood and without signs of life. To his right, on the ground was a plastic Coca-Cola bottle, and at the bottom of the stairs were two black men's summer slippers.

But as will be seen below in the investigative file, the severity with which Nikolin Marku was hit showed nothing other than the fact that a certain death sentence had been issued for him.

This is because not only on his body, or at the scene, but also in the market from which he came, several bullets were found scattered inside him. The assassination was carried out in front of a minor child and his mother, who worked in this store.

Whom only fate was generous to, and saved them safely from the hail of bullets that had flown to the food shelves.

Witnesses who stated that they had seen a car with black windows parked in front of the market and from inside it, shots were fired furiously at the victim, Nikolin Marku, without even waiting for him to approach his car, but on the store's steps, without fully descending them.

Investigation File

On the right side of the place where the victim was found, specifically in the shutter of the market where he was found sitting, 3 bullet holes were found, similar to those from firearms, while on the ground, below these holes, a metal shell was found, apparently similar to those from firearms. From the inspection of the interior of the market, in a straight line with the holes in the shutter, on the wall there was a metal shelf for holding the market's products, in which 3 bullet holes were found, similar to those caused by firearms, and after the shelf was moved slightly from the wall, behind it, on the ground, below the holes, a bullet casing similar to those from firearms was found, as well as two bullet cores similar to those from firearms.

The victim's own brother, questioned by the Lezha police, indicated that at the time of the incident he had been at home with his mother.

He also said that he heard the shots, but it never occurred to him, even in his worst thoughts, that the target was his brother.

While it was already clear that the attackers had not taken into account that there were other people inside the market whose lives were at risk.

The only thing they seemed to be convinced of was the elimination of the victim at all costs.

Which they actually successfully accomplished.

The gunfire was so loud that, according to experts at the scene, shards of the bullet-riddled glass of the storefront were found 10 meters away from the store.

A 16-year-old also witnessed the incident, telling investigators that after hearing the shots, he ran away in terror, hiding in the back of the market.

The same one who stated that after the perpetrators shot, they left in the black vehicle in which they had arrived there.

Meanwhile, the victim's family said that Nikolini had been living in Albania for nearly 2 years, and after the execution of Ardian Nikulaj, he had severely restricted his movements.

Investigation File

On the left side, at a distance of about 10 m from the place where the victim's body was found, in the parking area, small pieces of broken glass, apparently of the type of vehicle glass, were found scattered on the ground, as well as 9 pieces of black plastic with adhesive on one side, damaged in irregular shape and size, apparently like adhesive for vehicle windows for darkening, which were seized as material evidence.

But what did Nikolin Marku's family say about the investigative group and why do they believe that the killers of their loved one were ordered and financed by people from the Nikulaj family?

What happened two days before Nikolin Marku was killed and why does his father think that those ghosts that moved like shadows wherever they stepped were people who were after them to eliminate them?

Details which he also stated during his police interview after the murder.

And what is happening to the Marku family today, after the execution of their loved one.

Why did the security cameras at the scene fail to reveal anything more concrete regarding the perpetrators of the incident?

And is this the case where investigations have not been completed, but the police, as in many other incidents, are found to be compromised by the crime?

Investigation File

Following the inspection of the scene, in the two side columns of the market, two security cameras with memory cards inside were found, which were taken and seized as material evidence, in order to further verify the footage. From what was found at the scene, it is clear that in front of the stairs where the victim's body was found, a gray 'Benz' vehicle with license plate AA 913 NH was seen parked, with the driver's door open.

The vehicle in which the victim is suspected of having come to the store to buy a Coca-Cola, parking it in front and leaving it running. And after buying the Coca-Cola, he left the store to get back into the vehicle, when he was shot on the stairs and died instantly. But even though the police set up checkpoints on the entrance and exit roads from which the perpetrators and their car could have moved before and after the crime, these checkpoints proved ineffective.

This is because no trace was found of the crime car. But if the police did not find any such trace, the victim's family and specifically his father, Gjergj Lekstakaj, raised the finger of accusation against the Nikulaj family. Accusing them of being the murderers of their son. Allegations, according to him, were also supported by the information they had that the killers' car had left the Nikulaj area before shooting their son.

George Lekstakaj
Two days before the crime, my son Nikolini was observed by a suspicious car while we were working in the field. Something that my son also saw. The car that passed by our land while we were working in the field. For the murder of my son, I accuse the Nikulaj family. But Gjergj Lekstakaj went even further in his accusations, saying that the police are protecting his son's killers.

This is because, according to him, his son's murderer, whom he suggests he knows, is driving around accompanied by police.

This is a very serious accusation for the Lezha police. Gjergj Lekstakaj addressed several times in writing to the Prosecutor's Office, the Minister of Interior of the time, but also to several other institutions in the country.

In these emails and official documents, Gjergj Lekstakaj says that security cameras captured the vehicle used in the murder of his son Nikolin, leaving Nikulaj, but the police are not releasing these cameras, as they are themselves implicated.

While as we said earlier, the murder of Nikolin Lekstakaj occurred in front of the store owner and her minor son. Where the killers chose to shoot from inside the vehicle, without getting out of there at all. Meanwhile, the investigative group in its investigative tracks suspects that Nikolin Marku is a victim of old and new clashes between the Lekstakaj and Nikulaj tribes.

Among them there is 'mutual hostility' which culminated in the event of March 19, 2023. An event in which local businessman and politician Ardian Nikulaj was also killed, who was killed inside his bar by a Portuguese hitman, identified and now sentenced to life imprisonment, Ruben Saraiva.