The State Police has announced the capture in Italy of two brothers convicted of murder, thanks to close cooperation and real-time exchange of information with Italian authorities.
Citizens Artur Mehilli, 60, and Arben Mehilli, 54, who had been internationally wanted for years, were arrested. They were sentenced by the Lushnja Court in 2001 to a total of 32 years in prison for "premeditated murder" committed in collaboration and illegal possession of weapons.
The crime for which they were convicted dates back to September 12, 1999, when in Lushnja they executed a Macedonian citizen with a firearm, for blood feud reasons, after the latter had killed their brother in 1997.
According to police, after committing the crime, the two brothers fled to Italy using false identities, with which they managed to obtain residence permits in the neighboring country. Artur Mehilli used the name Artur Davidhi, while Arben Mehilli used the identity Arben Gjermeni.
The operation to locate and arrest them was made possible by the structures of the Criminal Police Department, in cooperation with the General Prosecutor's Office and the Fier Police, while information was exchanged through Interpol, specifically between Interpol Tirana and Interpol Rome.
A key role in their identification was played by the use of biometric technology "Facial Recognition", now available to Interpol Tirana, which made it possible to discover the real identities of the wanted persons.
Albanian authorities announce that cooperation with the Italian side continues to complete the extradition procedures of the two brothers to Albania, where they are expected to serve the sentence imposed by Albanian justice.
