The operation stems from a criminal investigation launched in 2020 into a suspected organised crime group accused of large-scale cocaine trafficking and laundering illicit proceeds through investments in Albania.

At special prosecutors’ request, the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime ordered the detention of 10 Albanian nationals. Authorities are also seeking two additional suspects believed to be in Albania, while seven others under investigation are thought to be abroad.

According to prosecutors, the network operated between 2019 and 2021 across Latin America, Brazil, Belgium and the Netherlands, and is suspected of trafficking at least 50 tonnes of cocaine.

Investigators said evidence gathered during the probe linked the group to five major cocaine shipments, involving a total of nearly nine tonnes of the drug seized by law enforcement authorities.

SPAK alleges that proceeds from the trafficking operation were transferred to Albania largely in cash before being invested in real estate, corporate holdings and businesses, mainly in the construction, hospitality and consultancy sectors, in an effort to conceal their criminal origin.

The Special Court also ordered the preventive seizure of 491 movable and immovable assets allegedly owned directly or indirectly by the suspects under investigation.

The court also ordered the preventive seizure of assets allegedly linked to the suspects, including company shares and 266 properties such as land, hotels, apartments and parking facilities located in Tirana, Durres, Elbasan, Lezha, Shkodra, Himara and Saranda.

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Head of the National Agency of Information Society Linda Karçanaj said that this is an achievement that approaches Albania closer to the standards and the European digital infrastructure.

“With the support of WBIF 9 (Western Balkans Investments Framework), we are in the process of drafting a feasibility study for the establishment of a National Supercomputer Center (HPC), a project that has already begun to materialize and will be completed by 2025,” said Karçanaj.

According to Karçanaj, “EuroHPC membership directly helps projects based on artificial intelligence.”

“Thanks to access to supercomputers, Diella, the assistant, can be trained with more advanced models in the Albanian language, becoming even faster and more accurate in helping citizens. This means more real-time responses and more documents generated automatically with voice commands. At the same time, the use of supercomputers will help us accelerate the analysis and translation of laws for harmonization with the EU”, she continued.

Karçanaj informed the attendees that, with the support of WBIF, Albania has started the development of a national feasibility study for the establishment of an HPC Center, which will serve a wide range of users such as public institutions, academia, small and medium-sized enterprises, and start-ups.

“Within the framework of this membership, Albania benefits from direct access to the joint capacities of EuroHPC, as well as the opportunity to participate in high-impact research projects”, Karçanaj affirmed.

“Supercomputers are the basic infrastructure for the next generation of innovation. Admission to EuroHPC is not just a technical success, it is a commitment to the digital future of Albania in the heart of Europe”, said the head of the agency. /e.i/j.p/p.s./

Present at the ceremony organized on this occasion, the deputy prime minister, at the same time Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku assured that within the framework of this program, there will continue investments in the water supply and sewerage network.

Balluku highlighted the excellent cooperation with Germany as far as the water supply and sewage sector is concerned.

“This cooperation has been going on for 12 years and has already a history of achievements in this sector,” she said.

To understand the great need that the water and sewerage sector has for investments, Balluku pointed at the Kafaraj station in Fier which has been built in 1964.

“At that time, it was built to serve the local residents who lived in the area and the industry. Meanwhile, everything that accompanies this pumping station and all the technology used dates back to 1964,” she said.

Balluku emphasized that there are several similar stations in the territory of the country. “We had to work intensively to replace, repair or rebuild these pumping stations or the entire legacy network with a series of problems,” she said./p.s./