"I am not corrupt, they put the bombs on me", Saimir Tahiri in the Italian documentary, interview before he was sentenced to prison

2022-09-24 09:00:26Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

A few days before ending up in the cell, the former Minister of the Interior Saimir Tahiri gave an interview to the Italian journalist Nello Trocchia. The latter has produced a documentary about Albanian traffickers and their connections with politics.

In the trailer of the documentary "I narcos albanesi", which is broadcast this Saturday, the former minister declared that he is not corrupt. He has said that he has nothing to do with drug trafficking, as he would not have gone to Italy when he was minister and asked the Guardia di Finanza to double monitoring.

"And if I were corrupt, I wouldn't come to Italy to ask the Guardia di Finanza to double the crossings to monitor the territory. I asked all European countries to help us fight drug trafficking", Tahiri said a few days before his arrest.

Tahiri, a few days after the interview, ends up in prison after being sentenced to 3 years and 4 months for abuse of office, accused of being associated with a criminal group dedicated to the trafficking of marijuana to Italy.

"They put bombs on me and something like this has never happened in Albania, marijuana is not a story of criminals, but of poverty", says Tahiri in the documentary signed by Carmen Vogani, Lorenzo Giroffi (director) and Marco Carta.

The former minister of the government of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, in office until March 2017, was involved in the investigations carried out in Italy, which led in October of the same year to the dismantling of a criminal organization composed of Italians and Albanians engaged in international drug and arms trafficking.

Tahiri is suspected of having relations with two members of the organization, the brothers Moisi and Florian Habilaj, the first arrested in Italy. The Habilajs are relatives of the former minister, whose name has appeared several times in the wiretapping conducted by Italian investigators.

In May 2018, Tahiri resigned as an MP, immediately ending up under house arrest, to be investigated in freedom. His lawyer Maksim Haxhia called the sentence scandalous and announced an appeal.

ALBANIAN MAFIA

The former minister, now in prison, tells about the wages that drug traffickers guarantee growers, 5,000 euros per year just to grow marijuana in the fields transformed into plantations, money that in Albania represents a large amount. Thus traffickers managed to increase production and become in this sector among the first exporters in the international criminal arena.

The Albanian mafia began its unstoppable rise in the 90s with attacks on valuables, apartment burglaries, villa robberies until it became a human trafficker and managed a large prostitution business.

One of the victims speaks in the documentary and shows the violence, abuse, murder of family members because of the courage to report.

Që nga vitet nëntëdhjetë, mafia e Foggia-s ka biseduar me atë shqiptare dhe përdor tarifat e përballueshme që ofrohen për transportin e drogës, por edhe për të vrarë rivalët.

“Nëse bën një punë normale duke punuar shumë mund të fitosh deri në 300 euro në muaj, por duke qenë kriminel mund të fitosh të njëjtën shumë në një minutë. Ja pse shumë të rinj tërhiqen nga kjo jetë, gjithmonë paraja dhe pushteti”, thotë një ish-trafikant droge.

Trafikantët shqiptarë të drogës janë të armatosur deri në dhëmbë dhe të pamëshirshëm me këdo që përpiqet t’i ndalojë, prej vitesh janë konsideruar si kriminelë të dorës së dytë, por përmes lidhjes së përkatësisë dhe besnikërisë kanë arritur të rekrutojnë një ushtri besnikësh. Besnik që merren me menaxhimin, ruajtjen dhe kontrollin e porteve në të gjithë Evropën ku kalon “ari i shekullit”: kokaina.

The Albanian mafia has its manor in Albania, the center of power, but it has already brought the drug war to Ecuador. Albanian drug traffickers do business in Europe, they almost have a monopoly on marijuana traffic, they have climbed the criminal pyramid by ambushing and sowing terror. 


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