TIRANA, Sept. 22 – The Serious Crimes Prosecution announced on Friday the court has accepted its request to seize 29 assets of various kinds from the so-called ‘Habilaj Group’, Albanian brothers from Vlora accused of being involved in narcotics trafficking and allegedly related with former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri.
The long list of assets appears in the name of Moisi Habilaj, allegedly the leader of the group that dealt with the dispatch of large quantities of marijuana to Italy, where last October the Catania authorities targeted the Albanian group as part of an Italian- Albanian criminal organization.
Among the sequestered assets and properties are also those belonging to people connected with the Habilaj group. Among them are at least ten apartments with a total value of several hundred thousand euros.
In addition, three buildings, a garage, a piece of land, four trading units, four other real estate and five cars were seized. In total, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, the value of assets under seizure mounts to several million euros.
Alleged ties with the Habilaj brothers, with whom he is related, placed former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri under scrutiny last year.
Investigations against him started after the Italian authorities hit the criminal organization in Catania, while in the interceptions carried out Tahiri’s name was mentioned several times in conversations among traffickers.
In this context, the prosecution requested Tahiri’s arrest several times, however the socialist majority refused on the grounds the prosecution had not provided any evidence.
In May 2018, Tahiri resigned from his mandante as an MP. Shortly thereafter, the prosecution appealed again for his arrest, but the court only sentenced him to house arrest – a decision that was again changed a few weeks later by the Court of Appeals.
Tahiri has denied any links with the Habilaj group and their illegal drug trafficking, while investigations towards him are ongoing.
