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Albania - Crime

Organized criminal activity occurs in all regions of Albania. Corruption is pervasive. Police and news outlets often report small-scale, sporadic incidents of violence. High unemployment and other economic factors encourage criminal activity. Crime statistics indicate a steady increase in violent crime has occurred throughout Albania since 2009. Organized crime is present in Albania; organized criminal activity occasionally results in violent confrontations between members of rival organizations.

Blood feuds continue to plague life in isolated areas of the country. As many as 1,000 families nationwide fear reprisal related to blood revenge. The blood feud is an anachronistic practice codified in the Canon of Leke Dukagjini, a code of law that emerged in the 15th century to govern life in the isolated north of Albania. This tradition was banned by the communist regime and ruthlessly suppressed, but took hold again in the chaos after the collapse of communism. The Code says that serious wrongdoing must be avenged by killing a male member of the family that committed the wrong. This in turn leads to a cycle of killings that put at risk all male members of the extended family. Feuds can go on for years or generations.

It is important to note the that blood feud killings in Albania are rare - the Ministry of Interior reported that in 2009 there have been only four deaths related to blood feuds - the lowest number in 18 years. According to the Nationwide Reconciliation Committee, whose aim is to mediate interfamily revenge killings, more than 800 children across Albania are essentially imprisoned in their own homes, unable to leave out of fear of death. For this reason these children do not attend school. Attempts were made by the Ministry of Education this year to develop special home-schooling curricula. According to media reports, however, the home schooling by qualified teachers has not commenced yet.

Although the concept of "blood feuds" is an ancient one, based on Albania's original code of law and honor (the "Kanun"), the sporadic modern application of the Kanun deviates from its original context, degenerating from even the specific reasons that were allowable for revenge at the height of its influence in the sixteenth century. However, as Albanian society continues to modernize, the government strives to demonstrate to all Albanians that justice is best served through a strong and competent judicial system rather than vigilante acts.

Armed crime continues to be more common in northern and northwestern Albania than in the rest of the country. Street crimes are more common at night. Crime statistics show annual increases in all violent crimes, including murder, burglary and armed robbery since 2009. This also includes targeted explosions with 70 such explosions having occurred in 2012. Most were from remotely detonated car bombs or explosives placed at private residences.

Trafficking in narcotics in Albania continues as one of the most lucrative illicit occupations available. Organized crime groups use Albania as a transit point for drugs and other types of smuggling, due to the country's strategic location, porous borders, weak law enforcement, and unreformed judicial systems. Albania remains a transit country for Afghan heroin and a source country for marijuana, especially to Italy and Greece.

In April 2006, in an attempt to curb trafficking and improve Albania's tarnished image, the Government of Albania (GOA) approved a three-year term ban on speed boats and other small, motorized water craft along the coastline. At the time, and despite resistance by stakeholders and the opposition, the moratorium was generally encouraged by average citizens on the grounds that it would provide the government time to build the necessary infrastructure and improve capacities to fight trafficking of human beings and smuggling of goods, and contribute in Albania's integration to Euro-Atlantic structures. The decision was also praised by foreign governments, particularly Italy, which considered the decision a positive sign. To some extent, since Albania lacked the necessary capacities and infrastructure for its coastguard to effectively patrol the entire coastline and territorial waters, it was agreed that Albania had to pay the price of a total ban on certain types of boats as it sought more liberal visa arrangements with the EU.

More than three and one half years later, when most were expecting the moratorium to be revoked and the Albanian government to demonstrate that it was ready and prepared to fight trafficking, the government instead admitted defeat. It admits that in more than three and one half years it was not able to improve its capacities in fighting trafficking along the coast, and, furthermore that it is ready to again infringe upon the constitution and human rights of its people just to show willingness to fight trafficking. Those measures did not put an end to trafficking, which continued along other routes.

In July 2008 the Serious Crimes Court wrapped up the longest criminal trial in the history of Albania's legal system and sentenced ten members of the so-called "Revenge for Justice" criminal organization to prison. The two leaders of the organization were sentenced to life imprisonment while other member's sentences ranged from ten years to 25 years in prison. This put an end to a trial that has been dragging on since 1996 due to political instability, gang intimidation, and the complexity of the case. The members of the organization were charged with crimes ranging from terrorist attacks, murder of a prison director, bank thefts, burglaries, kidnappings, and a whole slew of minor criminal offences. Unfortunately, only two members of the criminal organization were in Albania for the sentencing. The two main leaders of the gang enjoyed political asylum in Switzerland and were not expected to serve prison any time soon.

All members of Parliament, Ministers, Judges (trial, appellate, Constitutional, and Supreme Courts), Central Election Commission members, the People's Advocate, and the Chairman of the High State Control (an independent body) enjoy Constitutional immunity from prosecution for all criminal offenses. Because of this, there is great incentive for OC figures to obtain positions of power in government.

It is widely accepted locally that many Members of Parliament [MPs] posing as "businessmen" are in fact strongly suspected of having ties to organized crime. These individuals are now MPs, have immunity under the law, and are responsible for making the laws that will propel Albania toward further Euro-Atlantic integration. The seedy, possibly criminal, behavior of many of Albania's MPs is disturbing and does not bode well for democratic development. It is a widely held view throughout Albania that all parties have MPs with links to organized crime and accept money from organized crime. There are a few MPs who have begun to recognize that Albania should not have such characters represented in its parliament. How long it will take though to remove these ruffians from power though is another question. After all, money is the lifeblood of politics, and in a poor country with no campaign finance transparency or tradition of small donors supporting their favorite candidates, criminals are an easy source of campaign funds.

Released from communist-era restrictions on private property ownership, the first item on many families' wish lists was a car. To own a car was a sign of freedom, wealth and prosperity. The newer, more expensive cars, incongruous in a developing country that rates near the bottom of Europe's GDP ranking, are widely available on an informal market which offers autos (usually imported legally but often carrying suspicious backgrounds) at a quarter of the price of authorized car dealers. The situation has created the perfect terrain for a vigorous market of stolen cars from across Europe. These cars are easily imported legally and resold in Albania, the final ring in a long chain of organized traffic initiating in Western Europe. One legend has western car owners participating in the scheme for insurance payments. Until recently, public officials commonly drove such stolen cars.

The lucrative business in stolen cars contributed to Albania's negative image abroad as an organized crime stronghold. The early days after the fall of communism, as well as the time of civil unrest of 1997, provided a fertile environment for lucrative, flourishing organized crime markets, not only in autos, but also trafficking and smuggling. Ineffective and corrupt law enforcement contributed to the circumstances. In some areas, such as trafficking and smuggling, there have been marked improvements since these days (though much improvement remains necessary), as the government responded to internal and international pressure.

With the collapse of Enver Hoxha's communist regime in 1991, the retrograde forces in Albania were defeated. Following the arrival of Edi Rama and his Socialist Party (PS), which has its roots in the former communist party of Albania, to power in 2013 these forces were revived through establishment of a regime that is a combination of regimes of Slobodan Miloševic and Enver Hoxha.

Edi Rama was the Mayor of Tirana from 2000 to 2011. Rama, an academy trained painter, attracted the attention of the international public with the project of "facadization" of Tirana. Rama gave color and design to many old communist-style buildings located all over the city. Some buildings were painted in red, blue and green stripes, while the facades of some buildings were fully decorated with various patterns. While Rama did not manage to resolve more important problems of Tirana, the city has definitely become more appealing thanks to the facelift of facades. However, the "facadization" of Tirana was a cover for money laundering. In fact, in the "facadization period" Rama established and developed his relations with the mafia, which are present to this day. After Edi Rama's appointment as the Prime Minister, Albania became the "capital of cannabis in Europe", as cannabis had become the main "industry" with an estimated "annual budget" of four billion Euros.

Numerous officials and closest associates of Prime Minister Rama are involved in crimes. Minister of Internal Affairs Saimir Tahiri (PS) was convicted on 18 September 2019 to five years of imprisonment for serious crimes. The sentence was subsequently reduced to three years and four months due to the shortened trial. The court dismissed the three counts from the indictment by the prosecutor and sentenced him on the count of abuse of office. However, Tahiri will not serve his sentence in prison. The court pronounced a suspended sentence of three years and banned him from holding public office in this period.

His successor in the position of the Minister of Internal Affairs Fatmir Xhafaj (PS) admitted that in Italy his brother had served a sentence of imprisonment for drug trafficking, only after the publication of intercepted phone conversations which revealed that the Minister's brother was involved in drug trafficking in Vlore, Albania and had offered police protection to criminals.

The agreement achieved on 17 May 2017 between the opposition and the government, at the proposal of the EU and US opened the path to parliamentary elections on 25 June 2017. Representatives of the opposition in the then caretaker government, which according to the agreement was headed by Rama, publicized an official Report revealing that a major number of Rama's political officials, including his two ministers of internal affairs, were involved in election fraud. The report also documented their connections with criminal networks and how they supported Rama's tampering with parliamentary elections in 2017. The same election fraud scenario has been prepared for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 April 2021 as well.

Instead of pursuing reforms, development and further democratization of the country, Edi Rama launched the process of "cannabization of Albania." A significant portion of arable land is under cannabis cultivation, and the "business" is in the hands and under the control of political-criminal structures. During the mandate of Edi Rama as the prime minister, Albania became a criminal refuge for criminals from Europe, Asia, North and South America. A mitigating circumstance in Albania for the criminal structures is the visa-free regime, which Albania has with EU member countries, as it enables the criminals to move freely, "do business" and make enormous profit from drug and human trafficking.

In the period from 2014 to 2017, Albania became a leading country in production, supply and trade in cannabis in Europe, as was confirmed by Europol, US State Department and the United Nations (UN). Throughout this period the opposition constantly accused the socialist government, and particularly the Minister of Internal Affairs Saimir Tahiri, of being directly involved in the "narco-business." After the publication of the official transcripts of intercepted phone conversations on 30 January 2019, it transpired that dozens of socialist representatives, socialist mayors and other senior officials had been directly involved in the organized crime related to purchase of votes, intimidation of voters, forgery of documents and other criminal activities before and during the vote at general elections in 2017. There is clear evidence of collusion at high level between the socialist government and criminals, which led to booming of production and trade of drugs.

The first accusations against Minister Tahiri in relation to drug trafficking were made by Dritan Zagani, an Albanian police officer involved in the fight against narco-mafia. After he had been accused of leaking information, he was arrested by the Albanian police. Zagani fled the country and sought asylum in Switzerland. Once in asylum he stated that his arrest was a matter of revenge by Minister Saimir Tahiri for the investigation conducted into Minister's connections with drug traffickers.

In September 2017, the Albanian opposition proposed constitutional amendments pertaining to the security vetting of all Albanian politicians and investigation into the origin of their property. Following an evident agreement between the Socialist Party and criminal networks, the new socialist majority rejected the proposal.