"Albanians are not the bosses of Italy", expert: The Italian side is not showing the reality. Will the 'Ndrangheta or Camorra let you conquer Rome?

Criminalistics expert, Ervin Karamuço, has commented on the recent crackdown by Italian authorities and SPAK against an Albanian organization operating in Italy in drug trafficking.

Karamuço explained on "NOW with Erla Mëhilli" the investigation conducted by the Italian side, clarifying that the activity of this group, according to investigative documents, has only taken place on Italian territory.

He was critical of Italian prosecutors and authorities, emphasizing that they "inflate the role of Albanians, while in reality they cannot be compared to large organizations like the "Camorra" or the "Ndrangheta."

According to him, it is inappropriate to talk about an "Albanian mafia", saying that such a term is fueled by xenophobia and a misperception of criminal reality.

“The Albanians are ‘proxy’ groups, subcontractors of the Italians – just a window. We use those who are on the radar of Italian law enforcement agencies to avoid attention, and they put Albanians first. It is precisely the ‘Ndrangheta’ that introduced us to the networks in Ecuador, saying: ‘These are our collaborators, continue working with them. The ‘Ndrangheta’ puts you to work and you benefit as much as you deserve as an Albanian who is trusted and contributes to this trafficking. How can you say that Albanians have occupied the ports of Belgium or the squares of Rome? Let the ‘Ndrangheta’ or the ‘Camorra’ occupy Rome? Where do they leave you? All this that is being called the “Albanian mafia” is xenophobia. This term that some Italian prosecutors use does not apply to us, we do not deserve it. We do not have any attributes of a mafia family. We have structured criminal groups, perhaps up to the organization, but not the mafia. Never. They inflate our role in a way "Deliberately, to present us as more dangerous than we are in reality ," Karamuço said.

Regarding the investigation, Karamuço confirmed that everything started from data obtained through encrypted communication applications, such as Sky and EncroChat, but emphasized that most of the investigative work was done in Italy.

"This investigation began with data from Sky and Encro as evidence, and from these evidence further investigations have been developed. The question that arises is whether this crime is still happening; if so, then the investigations will continue. These investigations have been very complex and have extended from Latin America to Albania, where we have also received specific tasks for the investigation. However, most of the investigation has been carried out in Italy, because the main activity of the group was there. In the file I have in my possession, which contains about 1,400 pages, it only talks about Italian territory. This represents a contradiction in relation to the statements of the Italian prosecutors, who say that they followed the money all the way to Albania. But how much money has actually been followed? Only 4.7 million euros have been seized, while in those tons of drugs there is talk of values ??of hundreds of millions of euros. Where is this money? This shows that we are dealing with a constellation different from what we know from Italian criminal organizations such as the 'Ndrangheta', 'Santa Corona Unita' as well as some subcontractors that "They deal with the relevant services," said Karamuço.