Albanian authorities, in cooperation with Europol and Belgian, Dutch and French law enforcement authorities, have successfully completed a major operation, arresting 15 suspected members of a notorious Albanian organized crime group under investigation in several countries.
The coordinated efforts, under the name GORGON, culminated in a series of raids carried out in Tirana on July 31 against key figures within the criminal network.
As a result, significant assets were seized, including real estate and one million euros in cash, Europol said today.
The statement added that it was a high-profile organized criminal group that was hierarchically structured, with branches that operated at the international level. The gang was mostly made up of family members and associates from the same region in Albania, it is stated.
Members of the group are suspected of being responsible for numerous contract killings, large-scale drug trafficking, and laundering illegal profits through complex cryptocurrency transactions.
Among those arrested is a money laundering suspect who was stationed in Tirana and who provided services to several other criminal groups engaged internationally in murder, corruption and drug smuggling.
The investigation revealed that the leader of this organized criminal group and his associates ordered the killing of several members of other Albanian criminal groups by hiring killers.
They are credited with at least seven murders in the period from 2019 to 2020, one of which was committed outside Albania.
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