A long voyage that had started in 2014 and that had brought them a lot of worries in search of wealth. But without knowing that this next landing on the shores of Bar would be the end of their water marathon, in the world of narcotics. Where on the shores of Puglia, this time the Italian police were waiting for them. Which actually had time she had in her magnifying glass.
Where even this time the group of drug traffickers thought that they made peace with the Italian authorities, but that apparently they had made the wrong calculations.
Because their release would be nothing but a ploy to lead the Italian police authorities towards the rest of the group. A structured criminal group based in Albania, composed of Albanians and Italians, but that soon with their identification would be revealed the threads in politics and justice. Threads that had served this group to create for themselves all the comfort to act freely in Albania and to move afterwards without bothering the drugs to Italy.
Among the many arrested in the operation codenamed 'Spirit' would be the two former bodyguards of the Minister of Interior in 2013-2017, Saimir Tahiri, who today is behind bars in the cell convicted by the Court of Appeals of Corruption and Crimes with 3 years and 6 months in prison, on charges of abuse of office. A long and tedious pursuit for the Italian authorities who had patiently documented all the criminal activity of the group that according to them had been able to transport to Italy, during the years 2014-2017, tons of narcotics.
Where even this time those who would dismantle the criminal group and the way they functioned would be the penitents of justice.
Who showed not only their names, but also the connections that the heads of narcotics cultivation and trafficking in Albania had with the two powers, the political and the judiciary. But the most interesting part of the investigation is the one related to the names of the two companions of the former Minister of Interior, Saimir Tahiri, at the time when the latter held an important ministerial post, during the years 2013-2017.
Time which also coincides with the activity of his two bodyguards, Agustin Deda and Hekuran Marku, in the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics. But also with the massification of cannabis in Albania. But how Deda and Marku got involved in this activity. To understand their role in this venture, this time again, the testimony of a penitent of justice came to the aid of Italian investigators.
He is the skier Fiqiret Seferi who before his arrest had a key role in the transport and trafficking of narcotics.
The episode he is talking about is that of December 21, 2016, when the Italian police blocked on its shores, over 1 ton of hashish, which had just arrived from Albania to Italy.
Eltjon Bregasi (Pinxho), Silvio Sidella, Raffaele Addante. Giuseppe Vispo, Alessio Ventrella, Agustin Deda and Hekuran Marku, the latter two former accomplices of former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri, a former Guard employee, have trafficked 1016 kg of hashish by sea from Albania to Italy.
The drugs were seized from the skiers Fiqiret Seferi and Ferhat Ajdini. The narcotics were cultivated and kept in Albania by Eltjon Bregasi (Pinxho), Agustin Deda and Hekuran Marku, to be handed over to the Italians Silvio Sidella, Raffaele Addante. Guiseppe Vispo, Alessio Ventrella. Which has not been realized as this amount of drugs has been blocked by the police.
According to the Italian authorities, immediately after this blow, the first to be arrested were Fiqiret Seferi and Fërhat Ajdini. Who were stopped by the Italian police about 2.5 miles in the area of Polignano Mare, aboard an 8-meter-long dinghy, who although at first refused to cooperate with the Italian authorities, after severe sentences that the justice of this country was gave, they agreed to talk and confess the dynamics of drug trafficking as well as the characters involved, writes BW.
"Regarding this route of drug trafficking, the statements made by Fiqiret Seferi, in the framework of his cooperation with justice, have made it possible to fully identify the persons described as Pinxho and Silvio.
Specifically, one as an Albanian citizen Eltjon Bregasi, the other as an Italian citizen Silvio Sidella, confirming the criminal activity for both of these persons. In particular for the first, who was the owner of a large amount of narcotics trafficked in Italy, for the second as the host of the narcotic.
In addition, the statements made have confirmed the participation in this criminal activity of two other Albanian citizens, who together with Pinxhon were owners of narcotics, known as Agustin Deda and Hekuran Marku, who at that time were police officers on duty. as a bodyguard in the escort of Interior Minister Sajmir Tahiri, as well as three other Italian citizens identified as Raffaele Addante, Giuseppe Vispo and Alessio Ventrella. The last three, based on what the justice collaborator stated, were in contact with the two boatmen through the citizen Shpëtim Shehi.
Immediately after admitting to being collaborators of justice, the two penitent skiers talked in particular about 3 'trips' from Albania to Italy, which they had made from August to December 2016. Where they identified as participant in this traffic Saimir Kurti, Malton Lleshi and Shkëlzen Dacin. The first two as owners of narcotics in Albania, while the third as the recipient of drugs that was trafficked on August 4, 2016. Also Ajdini and Seferi identified Eltjon Bregas, Hekuran Marku and Agustin Deda, as owners of narcotics.