
While the Greek police have not yet issued an official statement regarding the crackdown on an Albanian-Greek criminal group responsible for the attempted murder of Greek mafia figure Jani Lala, the names of the suspects have been revealed.
Three of them have been arrested, while a fourth Albanian is wanted. Three Greek citizens, including a woman, have also been arrested.
The so-called Greek "FBI" has arrested Dhimitër Meci alias Dimitrios Metsis, 45 years old from Labova e Poshtme in Gjirokastra, Andrea Brokeri, 32 years old from Himara and Fatjon Prendi alias Fatjion Prendi, 39 years old from Lezha, while Vasil Theohari, 31 years old from the village of Krongj i Finiqit, has been declared wanted.
They are accused of being involved in the incident that occurred on May 16, 2025, when the armored vehicle of 41-year-old Greek Jani Lala was shot about 50 times with firearms, but without being able to kill or injure him. The person who pulled the trigger is suspected to be Dhimitër Meci, a person accused of several contract killings in Greece.
The arrested men had the knowledge to monitor their targets with vehicles, in which they had installed hidden cameras, thus having the possibility of having a 24-hour view. Specifically, they had parked an Italian-made van in front of Lala’s gas station, on whose control panel they had mounted a camera. On May 16, when Lala came out of the gas station, they saw him using the technological means at their disposal and attacked him by shooting him with a Kalashnikov. Two weeks after the failed attempt to kill Lala at his gas station, the suspects tried again to record his movements with the same car at another gas station that he had available. However, the vehicle was later spotted by a gas station employee, while the police found the hidden camera.
According to police, the same individuals had also carried out the arson attack on a gas station in Argyroupoli on February 23.
Who are the suspected Albanians:
Dhimo Meci, 45 years old from Labova e Poshtme, Gjirokastra, has been prosecuted and convicted several times in Greece for various criminal offenses such as theft, robbery, attempted murder, murder and criminal organization.
He was first arrested in 2004 for the murder of a Syrian migrant outside a prostitution center in central Athens. Held in Kassandra rural prison, he was granted a 9-day leave during which he was involved in the robbery of a Pro-Po agency in Glyfada, stealing 65,000 euros. According to him, this was apparently because the former head of the agency, who was murdered a few months earlier, owed him money. He was released on bail a few months later before being arrested again for violating his bail. He was arrested for several crimes during his career, including theft, robbery, causing bodily harm, use and possession of weapons, and for violating road traffic regulations.
After his release in 2011, he worked as an assistant in a gang involved in crimes in Glyfadha, Haidari, Kaminia and Koridhalos. Shops under the gang's protection had to pay death threats against them and their relatives, 100 to 150 euros every two weeks. Meçi is also suspected of being the murderer of Panagiotis Stivas in September 2006, Ali Saeed and Giorgos Shabbat in March 2008 and "Pitsilas", who is believed to be a former associate of Meçi, in May 2014.
The victim Panagiotis Stivas, according to Greek police officers, belonged to the group of godfathers Giorgos Avtias and Gerasimos Mavrakis (husband of actress Nena Chronopoulou), who were also killed, the first in June 2007 in Gallipoli, Piraeus, and the second in October 2007 in Tavros.
The victim, Ali Saeed, had knowledge of bomb-making and is believed to have been behind previous bombings at car dealerships owned by Haidar's rival "leader." He is suspected of being responsible for the failed attack with a bomb strapped to a vehicle carrying Giorgos Anagnostopoulos, who was eventually killed in June 2009 in Galatsi.
The victim, Giorgos Shabbat, of Israeli origin, was killed outside a bar where he worked in Kefalari, Kifissia. The same bar was also used by 43-year-old Lebanese Ali Said. Shabbat was suspected of being the “executioner” of Aris Lakiotis on 18 November 2005 in Haidari, of Yiannis Gavakis on 18 September 2006 and of Aristotelis Yagia and Vasilis Nasipian on 27 January 2007 in Nikaia, all members of Haidari’s extortion group.
Victim IT, known as “Pitsila”, was among the suspects in the double murder of Golden Dawn members in Neo Heraklion. This case is most likely a “pull” by an accomplice who knew a lot.
After the murders, he fled to Albania to hide for a while, while it is suspected that he was paid 200,000 euros for the murder. He was arrested in Sepolia in December 2014 in the company of Klodian Lekocaj alias Klod Cara, the leader of a criminal gang involved in several contract killings. Meci was found with two pistols and was also involved in an attempted murder in Halkidiki in July 2014.
In 2018, while he was imprisoned in Koridhalo, he was identified as the perpetrator of a murder that occurred in 2012. This is the murder of 29-year-old Albanian Artin Kato in 2012 in Peristeri, Athens. The victim lived in the Netherlands and was invited to the trap meeting by Meci, who communicated with him on Facebook under the fake female name "Anastasia". It is suspected that there were personal conflicts between them. But a year later, Klodian Lekocaj took over the murder and Meci was sentenced to only 10 years in prison as an accomplice.
Meci is also suspected by Greek police of being the person who took responsibility for the murder of a senior Greek police officer and Greek mafia boss Manolis Karagianis, known as "Karaflas", events that Meci did not commit. Karaflas was later killed in 2018 in another assassination attempt.
It is not known how Meci regained his freedom after all these serious accusations.
Fatjon Prendi, currently imprisoned in Trikalla, was arrested in September of this year as part of a group from which 1.1 tons of marijuana, synthetic drugs and an arsenal of weapons were seized.
Fatjon Prendi is a well-known name in Greek law, involved in a bloody incident 13 years ago in Krioneri, Greece. Specifically, on December 7, 2012, 4 people, including Fatjon Prendi, attempted to force their way into the home of a family in Krioneri, whose daughter had just returned home, carrying the sum of 1,700 euros in her purse. The girl was inside the house when the perpetrators broke a window and entered. As soon as they saw her, they followed her and grabbed her purse, while the terrified girl ran to her parents' room, where her family was sleeping at the time, and locked herself inside with them, while also notifying the Police.
The robbers fled on foot. Police officers who rushed to the area chased them and then exchanged gunfire.
Upon hearing the gunshots, the well-known Greek journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos had gone to the scene to see what had happened and was confronted by ruthless robbers, who blocked him at gunpoint, spoke broken Greek and took his car, in the Ekali area. Police officers who were already in the area, reinforced by other mobile units, began the pursuit. A new exchange of gunfire occurred at around 04:00 in the morning, near the cemetery in the area, while during the pursuit, a patrol car crashed into the back of Makis Triantafyllopoulos' car, to stop the robbers.
The vehicle fell into a stream, the back of which was riddled with bullets from police officers who were pursuing the perpetrators.
The search for them continued, with the perpetrators trapped in the creek as they tried to flee on foot. A police officer was injured in the exchange of gunfire.
Fatjon Prendi has served less than 10 years in prison. He was arrested on 7.12.2012 and released on bail on 11.02.2022. In 2017, while he was in Domokos prison, a knife was found in his cell. He is known as the friend of Alfons Ndoc, who was killed last year in prison in Greece and is accused of several serious crimes./Top Channel