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Official figures show that there are hundreds of police and military officers lured by crime. In many cases, they even end up serving as bodyguards, compromising the proper application of the law. Experts accuse that “many police officers”, who have committed crimes and at the same time wear uniforms, have been pushed into this unusual situation by their own bosses.
Authors: Elton Qyno, Gazmend Myteberi and Besar Bajraktaraj
Zef Mirashi, former lieutenant , arrested by his colleagues as involved in criminal activities, for years has found “shelter” as a geological engineer in a quarry in Fushë-Krujë, administered by businessman Ndriçim Babasi.
Before being arrested in 2016, with drugs, by his colleagues from the Shkodra police station, Zef Mirashi served as the commander of the police post that controlled one of the most criminalized areas of the country, Theth-Dukagjin. He was appointed to this position after a long career, accompanied by many clashes and a lot of stress, such as the service near the vice sector in the Shkodra Regional Directorate; sector which is considered one of the most difficult in this area.
All of a sudden, Zef’s honesty, loyalty to the uniform, trust in his colleagues and the public of Shkodra faded immediately after over 13 years of service within the ranks of the State Police.
The 12 thousand euros he needed for his son’s serious illness and abandonment by all institutions, including the State Police Directorate, where he asked for help, made him “fragile” in the face of crime.
“I was financially distressed, because in April 2016 I had to operate my 8-year-old son for a health problem, related to his heart. The operation cost 12 thousand euros. I started borrowing money from friends, but I had not paid the total amount. I asked for financial help from the Police Directorate, to save the boy’s life, but my requests went to deaf ears. During this time, I had not even thought of anything criminal,” Mirashi told INA MEDIA.
“… Grief led me to the temptation to commit a crime. God put me to a difficult test. But, while I was doing my daily job, one of my informants told me to transport from one house to another an amount of 6 kg of hashish, promising to give me 2 thousand euros… “, – the former Investigative Network Albania tells – Deputy Commissioner Mirashi.
The narcotics actually belonged to a police informant, who often made double play. This person was used for operational information by the Deputy Lieutenant Zef Mirashi, in order to uncover criminal events or drug plots, which were cultivated in the mountainous areas of Dukagjini and Theth. As he smokes a cigarette and laments over the period when he worked in the Shkodra police force as a crime officer and chief of the Theth-Dukagjin police post, Zef Mirashi shows an unwritten, but very significant, rule that is still in force today in State Police offices.
“… There is an unwritten rule in the police: If you as a police officer have the attitude… sir yes sir…, you get to 100 years old in that position, no one touches you. If you disturb someone’s interest, they will destroy you in every possible way,” says Mirashi.
He shows that for a single day he cut in Dukagjini more than 4500 cannabis roots and that after this operation the pressure to hit him professionally and in any form, became bigger and bigger. “I was arrested on April 12, 2016, while 19 days before my detention, with internal order no.32, on March 23, 2016, I was one of the 6 main police officers of Shkodra, that in that spring would only deal with the fight against drug cultivation in this region,” he said.
Internal order of the Shkodra Police Directorate, which charges Zef Mirashi as one of the 6 police officers of Shkodra, who will deal with the fight against cannabis cultivation in this area (In Albanian)
Deputy Lieutenant Mirashi was arrested, while on duty, driving his personal car in the area of the Buna bridge in Shkodra. The Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) officers and law enforcement agencies, informed by the confidential informant, set up a flash checkpoint at the exit of Shkodra.
As soon as the vehicle driven by Zef Mirashi approached, they ordered him to stop, in order to be checked. The car was subjected to physical control, from where the quantity of 6 kg of hashish-type narcotics was found, while the commander of the police post in Theth soon found himself held in handcuffs by his colleagues.
“I entered the directorate with my head down and in handcuffs. None of the colleagues and prosecutors I had worked with believed that I had done such an action, at a time when anxiety had overwhelmed me for my son’s surgery,” Mirashi said.
Mirashi was convicted by the Shkodra Court on the charge of “Production and sale of narcotics”, staying 6 months and 19 days in prison.
“… I did not go to prison, but I did isolation, because 30 people, including Sokol Mjacaj, who killed two Czech tourists in Dukagjini, were there in that prison. I had investigated and signed the arrest warrants myself and some of them said to the prison guards: Take that boss out of the room once, take him out to the yard, let’s see him once…”, – says Mirashi.
But this is not the only case, that a police officer is involved in criminal activities, mainly in drug and other illegal dealings, up to abuse of power.
The Police and military do not resist the temptation of crime
Official records show that there are hundreds of police and military officers who are tempted every day by links to crime and in many cases, they end up serving them as bodyguards. For years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs operates an investigative structure that paradoxically changes the name, every time the government changes. Formerly the Internal Audit Service (IAS), today it is called the Internal Affairs and Complaints Service (OIA).
This structure is directly subordinated to the Minister of Internal Affairs and has as its function the daily investigation of the criminal activity of the employees of the State Police. In an official response, provided by the director of this structure, Muhamet Rrumbullaku, it is stated that during 2019 the OIA investigated 250 cases, while leading to the arrest of 89 employees involved in abusive, criminal actions; while together with these police officers, Rrumbullaku says that 43 citizens have been arrested.
Furthermore, in 2020, 74 police officers and 41 citizens were arrested, who were collaborating with the police officers in committing a criminal offense. Whereas for the period of January-June 2021, Rrumbullaku adds that his structure has arrested 29 different police officers and 32 citizens.
The response of the OIA, the investigative structure to the police (in Albanian)
However, the OIA during this 18-month period, but also in previous periods, in no case has been able to prove the involvement in criminal activities of a senior police director, either at the center or at the county level. It did not do the same with the chiefs of police stations.
Meanwhile, the situation of statistics seems calmer in the ranks of the army, where, although there have been cases of arrest of servicemen as involved in crimes of the character of “abuse of duty” or “violation of the rules of guard service in facilities of particular importance”, the figures of the involvement of the army with the elements of crime are smaller.
An official response of the Ministry of Defense states that during the 10 months of 2021 “… in the disciplinary detention rooms of the Military Police were detained 11 servicemen with a time limit of 48-72 hours with motivation: Violation of relations and violation of rules during the execution of the security and defense service…”.
“In the framework of the violation of military property, we had 18 cases, where military property was violated by civilians, while the State Police had 13 cases of arrested soldiers, specifically for driving while intoxicated and lack of documentation,” said the Ministry of Defense.
Beyond the statistics, the situation involving police officers in criminal activities seems to have become even more troubling.
The arrest of two former bodyguards of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Saimir Tahiri, involved in drug trafficking and two top-level employees in Vlora, Festim Lelaj and Ilirjan Balla, created confusion in the ranks of the police and put into question public trust in this structure.
The case brought three other events, when the OIA structures caught transporting and selling drugs, cocaine and heroin, 3 members of the RENEA special unit.
Another case, when the image of the “Police we want” entered a vague situation and weakened the trust in those who have a duty to protect us, was the murder of the young man, Klodian Rasha, in Lapraka, by the general patrol officer, Nevaldo Hajdaraj.
The former director of the Special Response Team (SRT), Osman Levanaku, while making an analysis of the situation, throws strong accusations, when he says that members of RENEA, the Republic Guard and SRT are also employed by criminal organizations, the businesses they represent or any interest they have.
“We have members of RENEA, SRT and the Republic Guard, who go to work during the day, serving in the state and police department and at night go to work again, becoming the bodyguard and servant of the strong, traffickers or tainted businessmen in various affairs. And all this does not come because they want to work 24 hours a day, day and night, but because they have economic problems and troubles”, – says Levanaku.
However, according to him, “this second job with these beloved characters inadvertently leads to the creation of a collaborative relationship, putting them in total service to those persons with criminal records, who at the end of the month give them a good salary.”
“Financial treatment must be in line with the vital needs that a police officer must have to support his family, support himself and live in normal conditions. It is not about creating a rich layer in the police, but to create a structure that is included in the middle layer of the citizens of Albania “, – says the head of the police union, Satedin Fishta.
This new working relationship with lawbreakers risks turning into a phenomenon and increasing the possibility of enticing law enforcement officers. The knowledge and techniques they learn in the training instructions in the state units, these police and army officers use even outside the official working hours, turning into drivers-bodyguards of characters who are listed by the police as criminal contingents or some businessmen who have problems with the law.
Such was the case of the former army commando, Merviol Bilo, who on October 4, 2018, was involved in a serious criminal event in Tirana, while working as a bodyguard for a person known by the police, while many police officers during the night hours play the role of bodyguards in nightclubs, casinos and discos in the city.
“I work at night at this casino, while in the morning I show up at the police station. I have been part of this work in the center of Tirana for two years, working 6 hours, every 3 days of the week “, – an employee of the RENEA department says on condition of anonymity.
Economic conditions “push” them to join crime
On August 15, 2012, in Elbasan, father and son, Nezir and Gentian Beqiri were killed inside their house. The event put the local police behind in the spotlight, as Gentian Beqiri was under “house arrest”, as a suspect in the participation of the team that executed Sokol Çapja in December 2005.
Two Elbasan police officers, Sami Derstila and Neshat Budani, were charged by the court with guarding the entrance to the building where Gentian Beqiri lived, but they did not do so on the morning of August 15, when the incident took place.
The first people to be arrested by the Elbasan Police and Prosecution for this event, were the two police officers, Derstila and Budani, who were suspected as accomplices in this crime, leaving the two persons to enter the apartment and kill father and son.
ElvinGogaj, the former head of the Elbasan Prosecutor’s Office at the time, recalls the arrest of the police officers.
“… I was on personal leave, due to the August holidays. I was informed about a very serious event, as one of the victims was our defendant, whom we accused of killing Sokol Capja. The first to be arrested were the two guard policemen, as all our suspicions led us to believe that they had collaborated with the killers. Later, during the following investigations, this cooperation was quashed by the court, and the police officers were arrested and convicted for “Abuse of duty”, – says prosecutor Gogaj.
Only after 8 years the prosecution was able to solve the murder of father and son, leading today 4 people to prison and two others arrested in Greece and Dubai
Satedin Fishta, the chairman of the Police Union, connects the involvement of police officers in criminal affairs with the fact that in this process there are a number of causes that all act slowly with each other.
“There are social reasons, there are reasons related to the selection in the State Police, where there is no strict control. Financial treatment in labor relations is the main cause,” says Fishta.
Osman Levanaku, former commander, who for 8 years in a row led the Special Response Team, says: “Today, the reality in the police is worse than it seems. – Many police officers, who have committed crimes and at the same time wear the uniform, have been pushed into this unusual situation by their own bosses. If I, as a simple police officer, see the director having lunch and welcoming in his office or in cafes and hotels the strong criminal contingents, which I have in my area of control, then do not expect me to do my job. I will join crime, as my boss or my minister does…”.
On the other hand, BP, a retired military man who prefers to speak on condition of anonymity and who during his career has led the Naval Fleet base in Pashaliman, thinks the low number of military officers involved in crimes consists in the fact that the Armed Forces are less exposed on the ground with criminalized elements.
However, in May 2021, 5 sailors of the military ship “P116”, codenamed “Bora”, Sejfulla Beja, its captain – Bledar Bufaj, Roland Cani, Ardit Alikaj and Besmir Meçe, were arrested for “Abuse of Duty”, 4 months after they had successfully completed a rescue operation at sea of 55 Syrian, Iranian and Egyptian clandestine immigrants.
The military also rescued from drowning two traffickers, Emiliano Likaj, alias Gaçaj, and another person, declared as wanted. But, as the ship with the clandestine and the two traffickers approached the Triport’s radius, the traffickers jumped from the ship into the sea and got away swimming to the shore, managing to avoid arrest by the police.
Contacted by phone, the captain of the military ship “P 116” said that on that night he did not do anything criminal, but took part in a humanitarian operation, saving the lives of people and children.
“… I cannot speak in detail about this case, as I am on trial, but that day I did not do anything criminal, I saved people and children from drowning at sea…”, – says the captain of the ship, Bledar Bufaj.
While in the investigative file of the Vlora prosecution it is stated that: “the traffickers were given life jackets by the crew of the military ship, even, before leaving, they stayed in the cockpit of the ship and talked on the phone with their families. The telephone conversations took place around 23:48 on January 8, 2021, using the mobile phone of the military ship … “.
Another case, recorded in June 2021, never made public in the media, was the arrest of an army officer named Abdulla Gega, involved in the trafficking of Syrian illegal immigrants and the distribution of narcotics, of the cocaine type.
A Military Police officer told one of the journalists of this article on condition of anonymity that Abdulla Gega had been transferred from Tirana to Shkodra and after a short period Gega was transferred to the Bunavia military unit.
“For some whim, the transfer of officer Gega away from the family residence center came and the big financial deficit he suffered, turned him into a servant of the criminal contingent in Vlora, where after working hours in Bunavi, he transported the Syrian immigrants. Then he was put in the service of crime in Tirana, where he distributed cocaine, until he was caught by antidrug agents”, – says his former colleague.
The police are being “eaten” by drugs
The highest number of police officers who have been prosecuted is related to cases where they are involved in drug cultivation. This phenomenon continues to create problems, not only for those who have entered this business, but also for the police officers themselves, who are tempted by the monthly payments they receive, in order not to touch the plots planted with drugs.
However, this turning a blind eye method, not fulfilling the duty, has led to the opening of criminal files for many of them, who have seen themselves, either suspended, or prosecuted for “Abuse of duty”.
The case of Vlora, where a large plot with 6790 cannabis sativa roots ready for harvest was discovered, caused that in October 2020, Ardi Veliu take disciplinary measures and suspend 22 employees of the Vlora police district.
5 months after the discovery of the drug parcel in Himara and the administrative measures of Veliu, the Vlora Prosecutor’s Office has asked the former chief of police to suspend the police officers, Artur Veshaj, deputy lieutenant, responsible for crimes at the Himara police station, Ilir Kadëna, deputy lieutenant, crime specialist at the Himara police station, Isa Jaçaj, crime specialist at the Himara police station, David Fakaj, patrol officer in Himara and Arjan Tase, head of the Himara police station.
These police officers are currently being held as defendants by the prosecution and the criminal file against them is in the Vlora Court on the charge of “Abuse of duty”, while in reality they continue to be on duty and exercise their functions, as if nothing has happened.
Despite the request of the prosecution that their suspension is related to them being held as defendants, the former chief of police, Ardi Veliu did not take any action against them and the request of the prosecution was lost among many papers on Veliu’s desk.
The only police officer suspended in this criminal case continues to be Ilir Kadëna, who unlike the others could not replace the security measure, as his colleagues in the Vlora Court of Appeal managed to do during the communication phase of the restriction measure.
Lawyer Arben Llangozi argues that in this case the poorest person is also the person most damaged or most persecuted by the Albanian justice.
“… In the time we are living in, it is easier to suspend a prosecutor or a judge with the status of a magistrate, than a police officer with high school diploma…”, – says Llangozi.
Then, the lawyer Llangozi made a comparison, adding that: “for some TikTok videos a judge in Elbasan was suspended within three days, while this police gang, which was aware of the cultivation of the plot with drugs and currently has the legal status of “defendant ” Continues to this day to be within the ranks of the police…”.
