In a post on the social media on Friday, Interior Minister Balla announced that a joint operation carried out by the Albanian State Police, the Europol and the Montenegrin police destroyed a criminal gang from Afghanistan who held captive 11 refugees.

“The State Police, in collaboration with the Europol and the police of Montenegro, have successfully completed a search and rescue operation and have rescued 11 migrants who were held captive by a criminal gang of Afghani nationals. The captives were localized in a mountainous area in Montenegro, where they were held hostage at gunpoint and violence,” Balla said.

The State Police said in a release that the hostage-takers, Afghan immigrants, 2 of whom were arrested in Montenegro, were holding the hostages at gunpoint in a mountainous territory in Montenegro, demanding 50,000 euros in exchange of their release.

According to the release, “Albanian police received intelligence about the migrants’ whereabouts and other elements that lead to identification of the culprits. The information was exchanged with Montenegrin partners via the Europol. Montenegro authorities deployed their police and military services and localized and arrested two of the hostage-takers, illegal migrants from Afghanistan.”

Two Afghani nationals were arrested and charged with the crime of kidnapping and extortion.

/r.e/u.sh/