Posted on 02/20/2003 3:24:38 AM PST by Voronin
KLA Stuck Heroin Needle in Europe's Arm
by Ralf MUTSCHKE
Dnevnik, Skopje, Macedonia, November 17, 2001
Albanian organized crime groups are hybrid organizations, frequently involved both in criminal and political activities, mostly in connection with Kosovo. There is firm evidence that political and criminal activities are deeply interconnected. Similarly, it is also clear that Albanian criminal groups collaborate with other international crime groups.
Several factors explain the current, relatively strong position of the Albanian organized crime.
Although organized crime groups most likely could not "control" the situation, it is clear that they profited from chaos, receiving a huge amount of arms. Albanian organized crime groups similarly profited from pyramid savings schemes, which were used for money laundering. It was estimated that just before the collapse of the pyramid savings schemes 500 to 800 million dollars were transferred to the accounts of Italian crime organizations and their Albanian partners. These funds were reinvested in Western countries.
Albanian immigrants in the EU and Switzerland view participation in organized crime group as a challenge, as most of them are young men, in their 20's and 30's, with low qualifications, who have a hard time finding work. For Italian organized crime, these Albanians are ideal "curriers" in illegal drugs trade business through Albania. They were able to fool border patrols after the start of the war in Yugoslavia. Many of them contacted Albanian criminal groups through emigrant Albanian communities, located everywhere in Europe. That gave an impetus to spreading and internationalization of Albanian criminal groups.
A typical structure of Albanian mafia is hierarchical. Concern for "loyalty", "honor" and clan tradition (blood links and marriages are very important) makes most of Albanian networks "old fashioned" and similar to Italian mafia thirty to forty years ago. It is very difficult to penetrate these groups. Heroin networks usually consist of groups not exceeding 100 members each, based on extended families, which cover the whole Balkan route, from eastern Turkey to Western Europe. The Northern Albanian mafia, which is involved in the large scale drug trade is also known as "fifteen families".
Connections of Albanian Mafia
Compared with other international criminal groups, it seems that the Albanian mafia has established good relations with the Italian mafia. On July 27, 1999, the Police in Dures (Albania), with assistance of the Italian police, arrested one of the godfathers of Sacra Corona Unita, the Italian mafia from Puglia. This Albanian connection confirmed that Sacra Corona Unita had "officially" accepted the Albanian criminal organization for its "partner" in Puglia and Italy. This is maybe due to the fact that Sacra Corona Unita is to some extent a modern organization, which is neither as stable nor as strong as other mafias in Italy. Their leaders may have decided to join forces instead of risking conflict with Albanian groups, which are known as extremely violent. Thus, in some parts of Italy, marihuana trade, prostitution and people trafficking is mostly under control of Albanians. Links with the Calabrian mafia "Ndrangheta" exist in northern Italy. Several key figures of the Albanian mafia frequently visit towns Africo, Palatti and Bovalino in the Italian region of Calabria. These towns are "Ndranghetta's" territory. Southern Albanian groups also have good links with Sicilian Cosa Nostra, which is mostly engaged in finances and money laundering, leaving other illegal activities to other criminal groups. Similarly, there are good links between Albanians and other illegal groups, which are active along the whole Balkan route, where Turkish wholesale traders, and Bulgarian and Romanian smugglers are their most frequent business partners. There are indications that the South American cartel is also active in Albania, through Albanian intermediaries. The cartel is trying to push as much cocaine as possible onto the European market.
Deep involvement of Albanian criminal gangs in the smuggling of illegal drugs, mostly heroin, has been proven. More than 80 percent of heroin on the European market is smuggled through the Balkans. Heroin is mass-produced in Afghanistan, and then transported via Iran and Turkey, or through central Asia. In the Balkan region there was an old smuggling route, which was replaced by two alternative routes after the start of the war in the former Yugoslavia. The northern alternative route goes mostly through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, while the southern route goes from Bulgaria, through Macedonia, to Kosovo and Albania. Every year, along these routes, local authorities on average confiscate one ton of heroin and more than 10 tons of hashish. The US Drugs Enforcement Administration estimates that every month between 4 and 6 tons of heroin are being sent from Turkey to Western Europe through the Balkan routes.
Albanian smugglers are becoming increasingly strong and have partially replaced Turkish networks. This is especially true in the German language area, and in Sweden and Norway. According to some estimates, Albanian networks control 70 percent of the heroin market in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and in Scandinavian countries. Swedish and Norwegian police claim that 80 percent of heroin smuggled into their countries comes from Albanian networks. In 1998 the Swiss police estimated that as much as 90 percent of illegal drugs business in that country is controlled by Albanians. In all of Europe, about 40 percent of the heroin trade in controlled by Albanians. Refugees from Kosovo are employed as street sellers of heroin. There are tensions between old guard Albanian drugs smugglers and new arrivals, and a drop in the street price of heroin has been noticed since Kosovo Albanians increased market competition.
Trafficking With Humans
Albanian networks are not only involved in heroin. In the border belt in Macedonia there are newly established laboratories for production of amphetamines and metamphetamines. For now these drugs (in form of pills) are intended for the local market. Marihuana is being grown in Albania, and cultivation of this plant is extremely popular, especially in the southern part of the country. Annually Albania produces marihuana worth about $40 million. In 1999 marihuana plantations were recorded in the region of Kalarat (about 80 kilometers from Valona) and near Gjirokaster in the regions of Sarande, Delvina, and Permeti. Albanian marihuana is mostly sold on the Greek market. In transportation of marihuana to Greece, Albanian criminal groups collaborate with Greek criminals.
Albanian criminals are also involved in transportation of illegal immigrants to Western European countries. They are a part of the international network that is used for transport of not only Albanians but also Kurds, Chinese, and people from the Indian subcontinent. Albanian groups are mostly responsible for the crossing of the Adriatic Sea from the Albanian shore to Italy. Small vessels usually sail from the environs of the port Valona [Vllore, in the south of Albania], some from Dures, and even from Ulcinj in southern Montenegro. By the end of 1999 the price for the crossing to Italy was $1,000 for adults and $500 for children. It is interesting that some illegal immigrants paid for the trip only once (for example $6,000 in Pakistan) while the ethnicity of the groups that took care of their transport along the route changed. That indicates that Albanian groups are only a part of an international network for transportation of illegal immigrants. In 1999, every month 10,000 illegal immigrants were smuggled from Albania into the European Union. Between January and July 1999, Italian border patrols stopped 13,118 immigrants on the shores of Puglia. Italians believe that 56,000 illegal immigrants arrived in the south of Italy in 1999. The transportation of illegal immigrants is an important source of income for Albanian criminal groups, although income coming from illegal immigrants cannot compare with the profits coming from illegal drug trafficking. It is estimated that Albanian criminal groups earned $50 million from drug smuggling in 1999.
The transportation of illegal immigrants is not only a source of income. It is also a useful system for spreading of criminal networks abroad and for creating conditions for the activities of the Albanian mafia abroad. According to reports, at least some refugees received in Western Europe or the US during the Kosovo conflict were carefully selected candidates supplied by the Albanian mafia. Their task was to stay in host countries and serve as contacts for the formation of future criminal networks.
Trafficking with women and forced prostitution have become an important activity of the Albanian organized crime in 1999 when thousands of women fled Kosovo to Albania. About 300,000 women from Eastern Europe work as prostitutes in other parts of Europe. It seems that most of them are controlled by Albanian networks, which do not only recruit ethnic Albanian women, but also women from Romania, Bosnia, Moldova, Russia... Pimps usually pose as Kosovo Albanians in order to obtain refugee status, although many of them actually come from Albania. Chiefs of this "business" exert control from abroad. Belgium is especially favored by the organizers of prostitution rings. In 1999 ten persons with links with the Albanian mafia were murdered in Brussels.
Finally, Albanian criminal groups frequently commit burglaries, armed robberies, and steal cars in the US and Europe.
Links With Bin Laden
It is very likely that there are links between political/military groups of Kosovo Albanians (especially KLA) and the Albanian mafia. Between 1996 and 1999 almost 900 million German Marks [about $450 million] entered Kosovo. We believe that half of that sum was dirty money originating from illegal drugs trafficking. Actions for collection of money for Kosovo and KLA were legal, but could be abused for laundering of drugs money. In 1998 the US State Department declared KLA for a terrorist organization, indicating that the KLA finances its activities with funds coming from international trade with heroin and loans from Islamic countries and wealthy Muslims, including allegedly Osama Bin Laden. Another link with Bin Ladin is the fact that brother of one of the leaders of the organization Islamic Jihad, who is at the same time Osama Bin Laden's military commander, led an elite unit of KLA during the Kosovo conflict. In 1998 it was thought that the KLA was the key player in the drug and arms trafficking. It was said that the KLA assisted transport of drugs worth $2 million to Western Europe. KLA and other Albanian groups have obviously developed a sophisticated network of bank accounts and companies that handle these funds. In 1998 Germany froze two accounts of the organization "United Kosovo" after discovering that several hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to these accounts by an ethnic Albanian convicted of illegal drug trade. A possible link between Albanian/Kosovo drug and arms traffickers was confirmed in at least two incidents in 1999. Italian court convicted an Albanian heroin smuggler who admitted that he had been buying weapons for the KLA from Mafia in return for drugs. Also an Albanian ordered light infantry weapons and rocket systems in the Czech Republic. According to the Czech Police, the weapons were intended for the KLA.
Every KLA commander had certain financial means under his control. These finances were supposed to be used for supplying their units with arms and ammunition. It is difficult to predict future development of the Albanian organized crime. That is a relatively new phenomenon whose stability is uncertain. Nevertheless, Albanian criminal groups have demonstrated brutality and aggressiveness that make them a clear future threat. They already have international contacts, have demonstrated professionalism in their activities, and are firmly held together by their Albanian origin. The strong presence of Albanian criminal groups in Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Albania is definitely a reason for concern of the international community, especially given the geopolitical instability of the region and presence of international peacekeeping forces.
The author is deputy director of the Interpol Directorate for Crime-Related Intelligence; this text is a part of his testimony given to the US Congress on December 13, 2001
Bosnia Raid Yields al-Qaida Donor List
Still, it jives with my EUROPOL source.
VRN
Mohammed al-Zawahiri, Ayman's brother, commanded (and perhaps still does) the KLA's "special forces", whatever those were.
Hellooooo NATO/KFOR, are you listening???
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