Cocaine trafficking does not necessarily require a physical presence at the main trafficking hubs.
The Sky ECC intercepts show that many Albanian actors operated and directed criminal activity remotely, both at the source and the destination.
Most key figures in trafficking have lived and operated abroad, often in hubs such as Dubai, and function together as a transnational network not unlike a multinational company employing specialised professionals.
The data shows that Albanian traffickers do not operate with only one partner, but as part of multiple networks of collaboration. Language skills are a major advantage.
“The average Albanian trafficker speaks four to five languages, a significant advantage in a global supply chain,” said Ruggero Scaturro, an expert on Albanian organised crime at GI-TOC. “While cooperation among Albanians remains important, they are increasingly connecting with other international actors as well.”
According to Scaturro, the Sky ECC messages “show that Albanian groups control specific segments of the supply chain, possess the financial power to corrupt and penetrate legitimate commercial chains, and have the ability to position themselves at the source, acting as professional intermediaries”.
“They also clearly show their capacity to communicate and operate independently, even if not at every link of the market.”
Currently, the Cela-Copja clan is out in front in terms of quantities of trafficked drugs.
According to an indictment, Ervis Cela, 41, from Peqin, central Albania, serves as the group’s main cocaine broker in Latin America, while Franc Copja, 36, from Elbasan, also in central Albania, handles finances and logistics in Europe.
Their ‘clan’ operates across the entire supply chain, from purchasing cocaine in remote parts of Paraguay to transporting it to European ports such as Antwerp in Belgium or Germany’s Hamburg.
In February 2021, German authorities seized 16 tons of cocaine allegedly belonging to the Cela-Copja clan, yet the Sky ECC intercepts suggest the group managed to traffic another 36.4 tons into Europe within the space of just six months in 2020-2021; a further 22 tons was sitting in Paraguay, waiting to be shipped.
Zhilla attributes the success of Albanian drug traffickers to a number of factors, including their presence in Latin America, their partnerships with local drug cartels, and their control over key segments of cocaine import and distribution inside the European Union.
Another important factor is their ability to buy off staff at Europe’s entry ports and to corrupt law enforcement bodies in Latin America, the EU and Albania. They operate across the continent, from the Netherlands to Spain, Britain to Montenegro.
“This access and the significant quantities of cocaine have enabled them to influence supply stability, product quality on the market, and consequently the final price in local or regional markets in the countries where they are most active,” Zhilla told BIRN.
