On Wednesday Jan. 14, police raided premises in Elbasan, 40 km south of the capital city Tirana, where they seized 19.5 kilos of pure cocaine, as well as a stash of firearms and equipment used to manufacture drugs.
The sweep, dubbed "Operation Xibraku", is the culmination of several months of investigation. Police said they acted on intelligence received from German authorities to identify suspects and monitor their activities.
The group was allegedly trading in drugs which they imported from Latin America before exporting them to locations around the Balkans and Western Europe. Among those arrested were two Colombian citizens.
Ermal Hoxha is accused by police of involvement in the group’s activities. His grandfather, Enver Hoxha, led the Stalinist regime that ruled the country from 1944 until his death in 1985.
Ermal Hoxha's parents told the Albanian newspaper Panorama that his arrest is an attempt to discredit the family name.
According to the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, cocaine consumption is not widespread in Albania, but the country lies on a key trading route for traffickers to states in Western Europe.
