The injured man was rushed to hospital to receive the necessary medical assistance, but due to the injuries he sustained, he died on the way. The perpetrator was escorted to the police station, while investigations are continuing, as it is not yet known what led to the serious crime within the family.

The post Brother Killed Brother with a Knife, Victim’s Identity Revealed in Kavajë appeared first on Albeu.com.

With umbrellas in hand, the protesters continued with the same chants, and for 25 days they have been heard saying in unison: “Rama to jail, Berisha to jail,” “Your end has come,” “Resignation,” “More tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, one protester revealed that the nationwide protests will continue again. The next protest is expected to be held on Saturday in Tirana, and citizens were asked to cooperate in multiplying the number of protesters by bringing their family members with them to the square.

Citizen: We inform all Albanians wherever they are that on Saturday we should all come together to bring this down. Rama, Rama f*ck you. Rama to jail, Berisha to jail! You are extraordinary, no one believed you would be so many on a rainy day. Do not forget, more tomorrow, let’s double, triple the numbers. Let us be here until he is no longer here. More tomorrow!

The post With Umbrellas in Hand, Protesters Call for Revolution, Another Nationwide Protest Announced: Bring Your Family Members, We Double on Saturday appeared first on Albeu.com.

In Skanderbeg Square, protesters have gathered with megaphones, flags, and a few banners, the number of which appears more limited because of the rainfall.

Participation so far appears lower compared with previous days; however, it remains to be seen whether their numbers will increase, even though weather conditions have worsened.

The post The 25th Day of the Protest, Citizens Gather Again in Skanderbeg Square appeared first on Albeu.com.

During the argument, Zhupa addressed Ajazi by saying that she would not ask him what she should speak about, nor whether he liked the issue she was discussing or not. Later, one of the committee’s chairmen, Arbian Mazniku, also joined the debate, telling Zhupa that Ajazi has more votes from the people than she does.

Zhupa: Dear colleagues, I have no intention of asking you what I should talk about, nor of trying to please you over what I am talking about. You can wait. The lack of patience is reflected in that square filled with citizens. You have a local government that today has no voice. If you ask them yourselves, they will tell you they have no idea what plans exist for their municipality. And you will decide what the procedure is… stay there, keep your place as a guest.

Mazniku: Don’t tell any citizen-elected official to “stay there and keep your place.” He there has received more votes than you.

The post Zhupa Clashes With Gramsh Mayor: “Stay There, Keep Your Place as a Guest”; Mazniku Responds to the MP: “He Has More Votes Than You” appeared first on Albeu.com.

At the center of the debate were Socialist Erion Isai and Democrat Luçiano Boçi, while MP Ina Zhupa also intervened in the discussion.

Erion Isai said that he is the one who acknowledges that rural roads have not been properly maintained, and added that the discussion is about Albania, comparing the period before 2013 with the one after 2013. According to him, there was no reason why there should not have been a qualitative change in governance. Responding to a comment by Zhupa about the protests, he declared that in the past people protested and were killed, whereas today people protest and are not killed, which according to him constitutes a major qualitative difference.

Luçiano Boçi fired back, saying that protest is a beautiful thing and that it is made beautiful by those who protest, unlike the protest that, according to him, Isai had mentioned, where people went there and were later killed. He added that when someone comes to kill, perhaps that can happen as well, reminding Isai that he knows those events and asking him not to take on the role of prosecutor and judge.

Isai then declared that the only problem is that more pelicans gather in the square than owls.

Boçi reacted briefly by telling him: “Stop it now.”

Isai continued by saying that he knows how people were killed, because he was a student at the Academy of Arts and personally took part in the protest.

At that moment, Ina Zhupa intervened with a question directed at Isai: “Mr. Isai, were you at SPAK today?”

Isai replied that he is curious about those who go to applaud at SPAK’s door and asked when exactly they applaud. He said that he had been there and that he will go whenever necessary. He further added that the other side views SPAK through two magnifying glasses, once during protests and once when they mention it.

Boçi then addressed him with another retort, asking him to clarify also from the perspective of the “natural classification” whether those who go to SPAK fall among birds or animals.

Isai concluded by saying that they belong to the people who accept justice.

The post Debate in the Administrative-Territorial Reform Commission between Boçi and Isai, Zhupa also joins in with retorts about SPAK appeared first on Albeu.com.

Because the drama is not only on the coast. It is not only about the flamingos, the lagoon, the luxury resorts or the iron fences. The drama is also in Tirana, in the heart of an area that was once sold as peace, greenery and clean air, but is now turning into an endless construction site. Dry Lake is not drying up from a lack of water, but from an excess of concrete. It is being suffocated every day by trucks, dust, noise, heavy machinery and permits that come down from above like orders to destroy even the little nature the capital has left.

Residents are not complaining about one more apartment block or one less. They are complaining about a way of governing. They are complaining that the roads are blocked by heavy-duty vehicles, that children can no longer go outside as they used to, that windows cannot be opened because of the dust, that the peace they invested in has been replaced by the noise of cranes. So the problem is not simply urban planning. It is social, economic, environmental and political.

In the olive-covered hills near Dry Lake, as Albeu.com has learned, excavation of the hillside has begun for the “Centaurea” project by the company “Bega-07” sh.p.k., owned by businessman Arben Muçobega.

This is a major construction project with 15 buildings of up to 9 floors, on an area of about 31,000 square meters of land and with nearly 94,000 square meters of construction above and below ground. This is not “development integrated with nature,” as marketing brochures usually package it. This is the classic formula of Albanian concretization: first you call the area green, then you advertise it as luxury, and in the end you hand it over to concrete.

This is where the greatest hypocrisy lies. For every such project, there is always a beautiful vocabulary: “harmony with nature,” “green lifestyle,” “new urban landscape,” “European standard.” But when the olive trees are removed, when the hills are flattened, when the landscape is destroyed and when residents live amid dust and without parking spaces, there is no marketing language left that can cover up the truth. The truth is that Tirana is losing its lungs, neighborhood by neighborhood, hill by hill, lake by lake.

Zvërnec shocked us because we saw violence in a brutal way: a citizen being dragged along the ground, private guards, fences, spray, a state appearing powerless in the face of private interests. But at Dry Lake the violence is quieter. It does not come with punches, but with permits. It does not drag people along the ground in front of cameras, but drags their lives through traffic, dust and noise every morning. It does not use pepper spray, but uses concrete as a weapon against the city.

And that is exactly what makes it more dangerous. Because when violence is visible, the citizen reacts. When violence comes with documents, decisions, signatures, 3D projects and luxury advertising, society often remains silent. This silence is our biggest problem. We are outraged when we see a body being dragged along the ground, but we do not react when an entire neighborhood is dragged toward concrete.

Dry Lake is the mirror of a Tirana that is being built without ideas, without soul, without infrastructure and without mercy for the citizen. Apartment blocks are built, but not schools. Luxury apartments are sold, but quality of life is not guaranteed. Construction sites are opened, but the community is not asked. Property prices rise, but the value of living falls. In the end, the citizen is left surrounded by walls, while those in power boast of development.

That is why Albanians have even more reason to protest, because it is not only Zvërnec. The same mentality that surrounds Zvërnec with fences is flattening the olive-covered hills at Dry Lake. The same government that talks about elite tourism on the coast talks about green residences built on concrete in Tirana. The same system that sees nature as merchandise sees the citizen as an obstacle.

Unfortunately, the years-long silence over unchecked construction in Tirana brought us the Zvërnec scandal. And today, you are protesting for Zvërnec, but turn your head toward Dry Lake as well. Because there, in silence, the same story is unfolding: Albania is being covered in concrete with permits, advertising and institutional smiles. And when a city loses its greenery, it does not lose only nature. It loses reason, breath and the future. /albeu.com/

The post COMMENT/ You’re protesting for Zvërnec, but have you seen Dry Lake? appeared first on Albeu.com.

Details about how this group operated, as well as the money-laundering scheme through investments in Albania, were made public by “Në Shënjestër”.

The money obtained from international drug trafficking, as in any other criminal activity, had been carefully concealed.

These names were not unknown to the public, but the operation finalized by SPAK also uncovered the assets they had concealed through so-called frontmen, placing them under seizure.

For years, they had been identified as Albanian drug bosses capable of moving tons of narcotics from South America to Europe. In many cases, they had flooded the European market with cocaine. Meanwhile, in Albania there was little information about where and how their billions had been invested. Now, not only have they fallen into the net of justice, but the methods used to invest dirty money have also been uncovered.

At the center of SPAK’s latest operation, in which 10 arrest warrants were carried out, was the dismantling of a structured criminal group involved in international drug trafficking.

Among those placed under arrest are the names of Dritan Gjika, Eldi Dizdari and Armando Pacani.

According to the data, part of the profits from drugs had been invested in Albania, mainly in sought-after coastal areas. In this activity, they are suspected of being helped by builders who, more than acting as entrepreneurs, served as launderers of these individuals’ dirty money. Because of their profile, these individuals could not appear themselves as investors under their own names in Albania.

“SPAK, within the framework of criminal proceeding no. 138 of 2020, has finalized a complex operation against a structured criminal group involved in international trafficking of narcotic substances and laundering of the proceeds of crime, suspected of the criminal offenses of: ‘Trafficking in narcotic substances’, ‘Laundering the proceeds of crime’, ‘Structured criminal group’ and ‘Commission of criminal offenses by a criminal organization or structured criminal group’.

It has imposed the coercive personal security measure of ‘arrest in prison’ on 10 Albanian citizens, specifically: Nikoll Bibaj, Isa Aliu, Sokol Bibaj, Florjan Musaj, Armando Pacani, Denis Matoshi, Naldi Yzeiraj, Oklid Aliu, Dritan Gjika, Shpëtim Aliu. During the operation, the State Police searched homes and other locations, and during the operation the security measure was carried out against the person under investigation, Florian Musaj. Meanwhile, the search continues for two other individuals, who are suspected of being in Albania, while seven persons under investigation are not in Albania.

At the same time, 23 searches were carried out on individuals, homes, offices of commercial companies and natural persons,” SPAK said in its announcement.

This action, however, was not aimed only at striking international cocaine trafficking and the people connected to it, but also at identifying money laundering which, according to the investigation, was invested in Albania over the last 10 years. According to SPAK’s statement, these investments are numerous and spread throughout the country.

“During the years 2019-2021, this group operated in Latin America, Brazil, Belgium and the Netherlands. The investigation has created the suspicion that the suspects trafficked at least 50 tons of cocaine during the above-mentioned period. Of this amount, a total of 8 tons and 960 kg of the narcotic substance cocaine were seized.

The investigation has proven that a considerable part of the income obtained from international cocaine trafficking was transferred to Albania in cash form in order to avoid the banking system in the initial phase, and was then invested in real estate, in the creation and purchase of shares in commercial companies, various enterprises mainly in the fields of construction, hospitality, consultancy, etc.,” the Special Prosecution said in its announcement.

The post SPAK strikes cocaine network, how Dritan Gjika, Eldi Dizdari and Armando Pacani invested their money in Albania appeared first on Albeu.com.

Through the messages written on them, citizens chose to express their positions and criticisms toward the government, politics, and the justice institutions.

Among the placards displayed during the protest were the calls: “SPAK, arrest Balluku” and “From the chair to the cell: time for”.

The post PHOTO NEWS / Amid ironic placards at the protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Office: “SPAK, arrest Balluku!” appeared first on Albeu.com.

In his statement, Berisha said that Edi Rama considers Albania a personal sultanate, his private property, while he described the regime led by him as a colonial regime toward Albanians.

He said that the media have brought to light the infamous book “Dosja,” in which, according to him, Edi Rama has foreseen and designed 523 resorts, hotels and developments in tourist areas.

According to Berisha, as if it were his own property, Rama exempts all this gigantic infrastructure from taxes for 10 years.

Berisha raised the question of whether there could be a harsher exploitation than this, adding that this is a typical colonial system.

He declared that this has nothing in common either with the fundamental law of the state, the Constitution, or with international investment law.

Berisha further said that to envision the development of tens upon tens of millions of square meters of land in the most tourist-oriented areas, just like duty-free shops at the airport, means establishing a system from which humanity broke away long ago.

He addressed those present by asking whether they could imagine such a thing.

According to Berisha, Albania is among the few countries in the world where billionaires come and receive millions of liters of oil at one quarter of the price paid by the Albanian farmer.

He went on to say that in his book, kept secret from Albanians and never published, Edi Rama lists 523 projects for development and construction in all four corners of the country.

The post Berisha: Rama sees Albania as private property, has planned 523 resorts with a 10-year tax exemption appeared first on Albeu.com.

According to the case file, the Aliu brothers are also among the main figures in this group. Salvatore Aliu is suspected of having been the main cocaine supplier for the groups of Eldi Dizdari, Dritan Gjika and Armando Pacani, while his brother, Isa Aliu, is suspected of helping him launder drug money by keeping it at his home.

Investigative records show that Isa Aliu continuously reported to his brother on the sums of money delivered by various individuals, while at the same time keeping the corresponding accounts recorded.

According to the file, on August 30, 2020, Isa Aliu informed Salvatore Aliu that he had around 6 million euros in cash at his disposal. Two weeks later, on September 15, 2020, he informed him that the amount had risen to 9.8 million euros.

In another communication, dated September 13, 2020, Salvatore Aliu confirmed to Isa that another 20 million euros were also expected.

In one of the conversations extracted from Sky ECC, Isa Aliu tells Salvatore Aliu that their mother had started to become frightened by the large amount of cash being kept at home.

According to what emerges from the communication, she was astonished by the sums kept in the house, while Salvatore replied ironically, saying: “Fill a mattress so she can sleep comfortably.”

Conversation between the brothers:

Isa Aliu: The ones who handed over the money.

Salvatore: There in Albania?

Salvatore: Because I’m going to settle the accounts with everyone.

Isa Aliu: Here it has reached around 9 million 800.

Salvatore: I want to see how much money they handed over to you.

Salvatore: And how they handed it over to you, you will pass that on to me.

Isa Aliu: With what I have collected…

Salvatore: I don’t want them like that.

Salvatore: I want them in total.

Isa Aliu: OK.

Salvatore: I want them according to the way they handed them over to you.

Salvatore: Or the way you kept them written down.

Isa Aliu: Yes, I wrote them down.

Isa Aliu: At night, darling, the old lady has started to get scared.

Salvatore: Why?

Salvatore: About what?

Salvatore: What’s wrong?

Isa Aliu: Well, every time someone comes and sees me…

Salvatore: But it’s nothing, what has she seen?

Isa Aliu: Exactly.

Isa Aliu: She’s astonished.

Salvatore: Fill a mattress.

Salvatore: So she can sleep comfortably.

Isa Aliu: She says: “Why do so many exist?”

Salvatore: There are another 20.

Salvatore: Still.

Salvatore: That have yet to arrive.

The post SPAK wiretaps on the Aliu brothers: Millions of euros in cash at home, Salvatore jokes: “Fill a mattress so she can sleep comfortably” appeared first on Albeu.com.