The show "On Target"
But even though Gjergj Lekstakaj has sent several emails continuously to the Lezha Prosecutor's Office, the American and British embassies, the Minister of Interior and SPAK, the murder of his son Nikolin Marku-Lekstakaj still remains unsolved. While investigating his execution, the Lezha police also conducted searches in the homes and businesses of the Nikulaj family. But they could not find anything compromising that could link them to this murder.
But what makes this story even more painful is the fact that Nikolin Marku's family has decided to leave Albania, due to the vendetta that exists between the two Lekstakaj-Nikulaj tribes. Meanwhile, Gjergj Nikulaj, the father of the victim, Nikolin Marku, has also requested protection, as he says he feels threatened for his life.
George Lekstakaj: After Nikolini's murder, the other son has left the country, as our lives are always in danger. What is now troubling us is how to explain to the minor child that he cannot go out into the yard. Currently, we are all isolated, from the 87-year-old mother, Nikolini's orphaned daughter, as well as the other son's daughter-in-law with 3 minor children. We are hardworking people, we do not come from the world of crime or politics.
But before 6 months had passed since the execution of Nikolin Marku, another murder, this time on the side of the Nikulajs, seems to have brought back to mind the shadows of the ghost of the violent clash between the Nikulaj-Lekstaj clan. This time the victim would be Entjan Nikulaj. The son of the uncle of the murdered businessman, Ardian Nikulaj. Entjan Nikulaj, who was shot to death on the evening of December 2, 2023, at the entrance to the city of Lezha, while he was driving his 'Fuoristradë' vehicle. The 40-year-old who was initially seriously injured, but who later lost his life during transport to the hospital.
Lezha Police
On the evening of December 2, 2023, the Lezha Police Directorate received a notification that at the place called 'Train Bridge' on the Lezha-Shkodër road axis, at 9:30 p.m. this evening, citizen Entian Nikulaj, residing in Shëngjin, aged 40, was shot and seriously injured. He was shot in unclear circumstances inside the vehicle he was driving. The citizen was then transported in very serious condition to the Lezha hospital, where he died.
According to the dynamics built by the investigative group, as in other similar crimes, the perpetrators chose to leave the scene in a vehicle. A gray BMW vehicle with license plates AB 138 HT.
The license plates were reported stolen on November 29 in Tirana, in the Kombinat area of the capital. The execution was followed by numerous searches in the homes of the suspects.
But this time the police could not find anything suspicious related to the murder. Killers who had actually followed their prey foot by foot. As was actually confirmed by the combing of security cameras, which gave a clearer picture of what had happened. Where this time the main motive for the murder was revenge between the two tribes Nikulaj and Lekstakaj.
But what did the security cameras witness regarding the murder of Entjan Nikulaj? And why was the victim, also known as Enio, one of the suspects in the killing of Nikolin Markut-Lekstakaj, on July 19 of the same year in the village of Balldren, Lezha? According to the dynamics built by the investigative group, Entjan Nikulaj, on the evening he lost his life, had just left a bar on the highway, where he had spent his last hours.
Upon leaving the bar, he is said to have gotten into his SUV and headed towards Lezha. But right at the entrance to the city, he falls prey to multiple bullets, which initially come from behind his back and the car. The perpetrators then, after the victim's car slows down, come up to his side and shoot him once more with a barrage of bullets.
Investigation File
During the examination of the footage taken by the security cameras, it turned out that the vehicle in which the victim was traveling was followed immediately after 40-year-old Entjan Nikulaj left a bar located on the highway and at the entrance to Lezha he was shot from behind by the perpetrators. After the victim's vehicle stopped, he was also shot in the side. The bullets that hit him in the back and side, which caused him serious wounds that took his life.
According to the forensic team at the scene, Entjan Nikulaj was shot with at least 25 bullets. While committing the crime, the car with the perpetrators took the road back to Rinas. Where the vehicle was also found burned along with the two weapons that were used in the crime. In connection with this murder, the Lezha police questioned 10 people and conducted searches in the homes of the suspects.
But then he released all the suspects. Meanwhile, even in this case, the main motive remained the blood feud and the conflicts of the victim himself.
While suspicions remained that the victim had been betrayed in the last moments of his stay at the bar, or had been followed in such a way that the perpetrators already knew his every move.
Investigation File
While combing the area, police also checked the security cameras of the bar where the victim Entjan Nikulaj had last stayed.
This was in order to see if there were any informants regarding his movements. Other cameras were also checked that could shed light on the movements of the perpetrators, who are suspected to be 3. Immediately after shooting at the car in which the 40-year-old was traveling, they turned their vehicle to head towards Rinas, where they burned it along with the crime weapons near the Tupi Bridge.
But how did the clash between the Nikulaj and Lekstakaj tribes begin in the mid-90s? A clash that, 30 years later, culminated in executions and new victims. Based on a chronology of facts, this entire monstrous saga between the two tribes is said to have started with a banal fight between two 15-year-olds.
This incident occurred in 1997, at a gas station in the city of Lezha, where another boy from the Nikulaj tribe was also a victim. That was Pëllumb Nikulaj, the brother of the later businessman Ardian Nikukaj, who was also executed today.
But immediately after this event, another, more gruesome one would affect the Lekstakaj family.
Where in the same year, Gëzim Stakaj and Laurent Gjetja, the son of the famous Lezha poet, Ndoc Gjetja, who was a nephew of the Stakaj family, were killed over a piece of land in the village of Balldre in Lezha.
According to them, the main suspect in the crime was Nikoll Nikulaj, who, after serving 3 months in prison, was released after being told that he had committed the crime in self-defense, even though he was on the victims' land.
But these would not be the only victims in the Lekstakaj clan. Just a few months later, in 1998, the next victim would be Gjovalin Lekstakaj. He was reportedly shot by his cousin Pjetër Lekstakaj, who was himself injured, despite being accused of being an assassin and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Immediately after these murders, it seems as if the animosity between the two tribes has subsided. The Lekstakaj family decides to flee to Great Britain, while the Nikulajs remain in Albania in the city of Lezha.
Where they build their businesses, not knowing that in 2023, bullets will reopen old wounds once again.
Marking 3 new victims so far. As happened in the execution of 51-year-old businessman, Ardian Nikulaj, who was shot in his bar in Shëngjin. Where the investigative group has its own suspicions that the organizer and orderer is Edmond Haxhia, nephew of the Lekstakaj family.
Who is said to have hired some so-called British tourists who came down to Shëngjin at Ardian Nikulaj's hotel, to initially keep him under surveillance. And then a hired killer came into play, who had been staying in the village of Karriq in Lezha for several months. Waiting for the opportunity to shoot the businessman. Which he did on April 19, 2023, where, disguised as a delivery driver, he entered and shot Ardian Nikulaj to death.
This hired killer, as we said, would be Ruben Saraiva. A 31-year-old raised in London. Who is said to have taken over the murder of Nilulaj, after the rejection of the offer of 500 thousand euros that Albanian criminals had made to eliminate him? Saraiva a very interesting killer profile. Whose father Clinton Saraiva had originally arrived in Portugal from Johannesburg in South Africa to play football with the U-19 youth team of the Portuguese team 'Academica Coimbra'.
There, at the age of 20, he met Milu, originally from Angola, who worked as a bartender in a bar. A relationship from which Ruben Saraiva was born in 1995.
The life of the Saraiva family, which then moved to London, where it is said that in 2004 they bought an apartment in the South Reading area worth 150,000 pounds. A life that seems to have faced its own difficulties.
After Ruben Saraiva's parents decided to divorce each other at the age of 17. This is where Ruben's first problems with the law began. In 2013, he was initially sentenced by a court in London to 9 months of probation after admitting charges that he intended to sell 32 doses of heroin, which were found in his possession.
But even though he tried to return to normal life, Ruben Saraiva was built to be in trouble with the law. Initially, after his first conviction, he began living with his grandmother and working in the Tesco supermarket distribution warehouse.
In the following years, he worked as an assistant coach with his father in London, teaching children football. But always without giving up his problems with the law.
Being sentenced to several years for beatings and using a knife. Sentences which also led to his deportation from England to Portugal.
Ruben Saraiva, who under unknown circumstances returns to Great Britain, where he meets Edmond Haxhia, who is said to be the person who ordered and financed the murder of Ardian Nikulaj. He received him in Rinas on February 14, until the day Saraiva shot the businessman in his bar, in Shëngjin, on April 19, 2023.
