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"Bello, Farruku and Lazarati" CLANS/ How the ALBANIAN MAFIA consolidated its presence in the drug trade in Latin America!

2025-07-28 19:25:44Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"Bello, Farruku and Lazarati" CLANS/ How the ALBANIAN MAFIA
Latin America

Sophisticated, with strong business structures and, above all, discreet, members of the Albanian mafia have managed to camouflage themselves in Latin America in recent decades to become one of the main distributors of cocaine in Europe.

They arrived in the region in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following the fall of communism in Albania and the wars in the Balkans.

Today, they are also in Brazil , where they have established contacts with " coco " plant growers in Peru, cocaine producers in Colombia, groups that store drugs in Ecuadorian ports, and powerful Mexican cartels.

This conclusion was reached after Bloomberg Línea consulted with experts in the field.

The Albanian mafia is just one of the Balkan groups present in Latin America to supply Europe with cocaine.

“There are reports of Bosnian, Montenegrin, Kosovar and Serbian clans,” says Victor Sanchez, an organized crime expert and researcher at the Autonomous University of Coahuila in Mexico.

Thanks to the diaspora that was "produced" by the conflicts that erupted in the Balkans in the 1990s, members of these groups have spread to major European cities and are present in five main ports: Algeciras and Valencia in Spain, Hamburg in Germany, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Antwerp in Belgium .

But they also have influence in the Latin American ports from which drugs are shipped to the Old Continent, including the port of Esmeraldas and Guayaquil in Ecuador, Buenaventuras in Colombia and Callaos in Peru.

The expert emphasizes a particularity of the Albanian mafia: its structure is mainly family-based.

“A person joins the Albanian mafia as a son, nephew, cousin or relative of one of the members. Because it is made up of people with blood ties, it is more difficult for them to report or provide information against the clan,” says Sánchez.

This characteristic, shared only by the Albanian mafia and the Italian 'Ndrangheta, makes them very difficult to dismantle, unlike other European criminal structures, such as Cosa Nostra and Camorra.

Albanian gangs are also “very commercially sophisticated,” says Luis Córdova Alarcón, director of the Order, Conflict and Violence research program at the Central University of Ecuador.

“The Albanian mafia, or at least the groups operating from Ecuador, did this with well-established commercial structures, which allowed them to imitate drug trafficking in transport and storage companies, but also in the shipping companies that export,” explains Córdova.

The expert describes how Dritan Gjika, an Albanian drug trafficker captured last May in the United Arab Emirates, created a series of companies in Ecuador between 2010 and 2012 linked to banana exports, using them to ship cocaine to Europe.

At that time, during the administration of Rafael Correa, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock created a system called Unibanano, which allocated weekly banana export quotas based on hectares planted.

But the system was only audited in 2022 with funding from the German Cooperation Agency. The audit revealed the existence of more than 50 “ghost companies”, established only on paper.

"What does this mean? That there was absolute impunity and protection. An entire department of the Ministry of Agriculture was involved in drug trafficking," said Sánchez, an expert on organized crime, citing press publications on the subject.

On July 3, Ecuadorian National Police seized nearly three tons of cocaine inside banana crates at a farm in Guayaquil and arrested five people suspected of being part of a criminal structure linked to the Albanian mafia. What happened is proof that this practice continues.

“The Albanian groups’ experience in money laundering has allowed them to maintain good relations with the Mexican cartels, and their low profile has allowed them to avoid the attention of local authorities. They always keep a very low profile because they know very well that encouraging violence is not good for business,” said Mike Vigil, former director of international operations for the DEA.

Concern about Balkan mafias has spread to the United Nations, which, in launching the World Drug Report 2025, denounced the rise in drug-related violence in Europe.

"The violence and competition that characterize the illicit cocaine trade, once confined to Latin America, are spreading to Western Europe, as organized crime groups from the Western Balkans increase their influence on the market," the UN said.

Progress in Latin America

The success of the Albanian Mafia in Latin America is due to three factors: its failure to compete on equal terms with local organizations, the oversupply of cocaine in the region, and the demobilization of the FARC in Colombia, which fragmented the illegal drug trafficking chain.

Negotiation instead of confrontation

“ The Albanian Mafia does not engage in confrontation; it partners with local mafias. In Mexico, it collaborates with the Sinaloa Cartel and also with the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel ,” says Sánchez.

Dhe në Kolumbi, anëtarët e Mafias Shqiptare mbajnë lidhje me organizata si Clan del Golfo në bregdetin e Karaibeve, për të mos përmendur marrëdhëniet e tyre me disidentët e FARC-ut në bregdetin e Paqësorit.

E njëjta gjë vlen edhe për lidhjet që grupet ballkanike që janë vendosur në vende si Peruja dhe Ekuadori.

Një shenjë se Mafia Shqiptare nuk ka ndërmend të zgjerohet në territoret e saj dhe të zhvendosë bandat lokale është fakti se nuk ka grupe të armatosura në Amerikën Latine.

Ajo krijon marrëdhënie biznesi nëpërmjet korrierëve ose emisarëve që udhëtojnë nga Evropa në mënyrë të përkohshme, përveç nëse hasin probleme me ligjin dhe duan të vendosen përgjithmonë në rajon. Korrierët janë të pavarur dhe punojnë me organizata të ndryshme.

Emisarët janë individë të përzgjedhur brenda një grupi kriminal dhe duhet të plotësojnë kritere specifike për t’u kualifikuar si përfaqësues të grupit në Amerikën e Jugut.

Si korrierët ashtu edhe emisarët duhet të kenë aftësi të caktuara, të tilla si të flasin shumë gjuhë dhe të kenë përvojë.

Ata mund të eksplorojnë mundësi të reja biznesi dhe të ofrojnë shërbimet e tyre për grupe në Kolumbi, Ekuador dhe Meksikë, duke forcuar marrëdhëniet e tyre.

Një faktor tjetër që i ka lejuar mafies shqiptare dhe grupeve ballkanike të konsolidojnë pozicionin e tyre si trafikantë kokaine është rritja e konsumit dhe prodhimit të kokainës.

Në Evropë, përdorimi i drogës është rritur me 80% që nga viti 2011, dhe globalisht, numri i përdoruesve të drogës është rritur nga 17 milionë në vitin 2013 në 25 milionë në vitin 2023, sipas raportit të fundit nga Zyra e Kombeve të Bashkuara për Drogën dhe Krimin (UNODC).

Ndërsa kërkesa për kokainë u rrit, u rrit edhe furnizimi. Vetëm midis viteve 2022 dhe 2023, potenciali i prodhimit u rrit nga 2,757 në 3,708 ton, megjithëse rritja ka qenë konstante gjatë dekadës së fundit.

“Në 10 vitet e fundit, ka pasur një rritje prej 880% të prodhimit, që do të thotë se ka pasur një rritje të jashtëzakonshme të konsumit të kokainës”, thotë Córdova.

Për Córdovën, “transformimi gjeopolitik” i kokainës ka bërë që mafia shqiptare të rrisë fuqinë e saj si trafikantë në Evropë, dhe kartelet meksikane të përqendrojnë operacionet e saj në prodhimin e fentanilit për të rritur të ardhurat e saj të paligjshme, për shkak të afërsisë së saj me Shtetet e Bashkuara.

Fragmentimi në zinxhirin e trafikimit të drogës

Ky fragmentim ka çuar, ndër të tjera, në bërjen më horizontale të strukturave të krimit të organizuar sesa hierarkike, duke i ngjasuar një sistemi nyjesh të lidhura.

Në kontekstin e kësaj dinamike, mafia shqiptare ka fituar terren në Amerikën Latine.

Vigil argumenton se, në veçanti, boshllëku i lënë nga FARC dhe ndarja midis grupeve të tjera të armatosura në Kolumbi “krijuan mundësi për trafikantët e drogës nga Ballkani”.

Vigil shton se mafia shqiptare dominon “lidhjet me shoqërinë e Amerikës së Jugut”, duke u martuar me gra vendase, për shembull, dhe duke falsifikuar dokumente për të shmangur zbulimin nga autoritetet.

Ecuador is perhaps the Latin American country where the emissaries and couriers of the Albanian mafia, as well as some of the leaders of the Balkan groups, are most established. Dritan Rexhepi, the leader of the Bello Company, is a concrete example.

Rexhepi arrived in Ecuador in 2012 – after fleeing three arrests in Europe and two years later being captured in Operation “Balkans”, carried out in Durán, Samborondón and Guayaquil. The paradox is that, from prison, he consolidated the power of his structure in Latin America.

The case was denounced by former congressman and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, assassinated on August 9, 2023, who also revealed in a report how the Albanian mafia infiltrated the National Police.

"The report accuses former National Police commander Tannya Varela of being corrupted by the Albanian mafia and of working for them when she was commander of the police zone corresponding to the province of Manabí," says Córdova.

Villavicencio even uncovered a connection between another Albanian capo, Dritan Gjika, and businessman Rubén Cherres, a friend of former President Guillermo Lasso's influential brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera. This allegation led to Lasso's dismissal.

“Balkan groups corrupted many authorities and security forces in the region,” Vigil said.

But before Balkan groups penetrated Ecuador's institutions, as Villavicencio demonstrated at the time, there was an element that allowed their members to enter and establish themselves in the country.

Meanwhile, Rafael Correa's government exempted citizens from almost all visas in 2008, allowing them to stay in the country for up to six months.

“Those who had legal problems in Albania or Europe could find in Ecuador a kind of safe haven to flee, which led to a greater deployment of mafia emissaries,” says Sánchez. What is certain today is that there are at least seven Balkan groups operating in Ecuador and South America.

The Albanian Bello Company, the Farruku Clan and the Lazarati Clan, the Sarić Group (from Serbia), the Kotor Clan (from Montenegro) and the Tito and Dino Clan (from Bosnia). /Bloomberg Línea


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