A Police Officer, Encrypted Phones, and a Vlorë Drug Network: Inside One of SPAK’s Most Complex Investigations

SkyECC messages helped prosecutors uncover a criminal organisation that trafficked nearly 1.9 tons of drugs into EU markets — and allegedly relied on a serving Albanian police officer embedded inside the system.

by Eris Zenelaj (Tirana)

Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK) has issued arrest warrants for eight people in connection with a criminal organisation allegedly responsible for trafficking nearly 1.9 tons of narcotics into European Union markets, coordinating contract killings in Vlorë, and laundering proceeds through a sophisticated financial structure spanning several countries.

The investigation — built largely on decrypted SkyECC encrypted communications and coordinated with Europol, Eurojust, the U.S. DEA, and several European law-enforcement agencies — is among the most operationally complex organised-crime cases publicly disclosed by SPAK.

At the centre of the case is the alleged role of Rezart Kuçi, a serving officer of the Albanian State Police.

According to prosecutors, Kuçi used his position to assist the network across multiple postings. At the time of his arrest, he was serving as section chief and forensic expert in the Scientific Police Unit of the Kukës Regional Police Directorate. He had previously held senior investigative roles in Vlorë and Tirana, including Deputy Police Commissariat Chief and Head of Criminal Investigations.

SPAK alleges that Kuçi provided logistical support for drug shipments, leaked confidential police information to criminal associates, accessed Albania’s TIMS border-control database on their behalf, and deleted mobile-phone data relevant to the investigation. Prosecutors also say he communicated with members of the network through SkyECC.

The alleged leader

Investigators believe the organisation was led by Inez Hajrulla, whom prosecutors describe as coordinating a network involved in international drug trafficking and violent crime over several years.

Hajrulla and a close associate, Ervis Matodashaj, were not present when authorities executed searches at his residence and remain at large.

Among the suspects already detained are Kuçi; Flodian Plaku, also known as Pole Qorri; and Hams Demushi, a former police officer who had been living in Switzerland and was arrested there. Demushi is expected to face extradition proceedings.

Businessman Mendu Duka and suspected network participant Arben Memishaj remain wanted.

Cocaine shipments across Europe

The network allegedly organised drug shipments across several European jurisdictions while sourcing cocaine from Latin America.

The largest documented episode involved 750 kilograms of cocaine seized at the port of Rotterdam. Prosecutors say the shipment had been ordered from Ecuador by Flodian Plaku in cooperation with Mendu Duka and other associates.

A second shipment — 400 kilograms trafficked from Spain toward Germany in December 2020 — was intercepted by German authorities before reaching its destination. Decrypted SkyECC communications cited by investigators place Kuçi and Arben Memishaj among those involved in arranging it.

A third case involved 14 kilograms seized by Greek police in Patras, hidden inside a truck travelling from the Netherlands that investigators say was also carrying a separate consignment bound for Italy.

The network also allegedly ran cannabis through Balkan overland corridors. Authorities intercepted 227 kilograms at the Ipsala border crossing in Turkey in July 2020 and roughly 500 kilograms at the Bogorodica crossing in North Macedonia in March 2021, both apparently moving toward Turkey through Greece.

Prosecutors say the group had established a sophisticated financial mechanism to fund cocaine purchases in Latin America and launder proceeds through channels linked to European markets. Members had also invested in maritime assets intended to facilitate trafficking by sea.

Two killings in Vlorë

The investigation extends beyond drug trafficking. Prosecutors say members of the network were involved in two murders in Vlorë in 2021.

On 6 February, suspects allegedly coordinated the killing of Gentjan Qarri in real time — monitoring his movements, arranging vehicles, issuing operational instructions to the gunmen, and organising the destruction of the getaway car afterward.

In the second killing, on 10 May, the same network allegedly conducted advance surveillance on Bledar Birçaj, including camera monitoring of his bar, “The Boss,” before he was shot dead in the Hajro Çakërri neighbourhood.

Both killings are being prosecuted under Albania’s premeditated murder provisions, aggravated by the involvement of a structured criminal organisation.

The institutional question

The Kuçi case raises a question that extends well beyond the criminal charges themselves.

A police officer who moved through senior investigative postings in Vlorë, Tirana, and Kukës while allegedly assisting a criminal organisation represents not simply corruption but the systematic penetration of law-enforcement structures.

Each posting offered access — to local intelligence, informant networks, and the TIMS database, which tracks cross-border movement across Albania.

The allegation that Kuçi deleted device data is particularly significant. It suggests prosecutors believe he played an operational role inside the network, rather than a peripheral one.

SkyECC has become indispensable to organised-crime prosecutions across Europe since Belgian and Dutch authorities compromised its servers in 2021. Yet encrypted platforms have a limited intelligence lifespan; criminal networks adapt.

The question this case leaves open is institutional: how Kuçi was able to accumulate seniority across multiple sensitive directorates without triggering scrutiny from the very oversight mechanisms — including the Agency for the Oversight of Police, which participated in this operation — designed to prevent exactly this.

Searches connected to the investigation were still ongoing when prosecutors released their statement.

All individuals named are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court decision.