BALKAN
DEATH: ALBANIAN NARCO-MAFIA
The
drug rules the world
By Marko Lopusina
Chapter 1, Part 1
Organized narcotic trafficking
has been the dirtiest and the quickest business that makes such a large
profit that the business became attractive not only for the criminals but
even for certain governments. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Bulgaria,
Albania, Columbia and Taiwan have often been linked to official drug trafficking.
There are only three regions in the world producing narcotics today.
These are countries in the South-East Asia, Middle East and South America.
All other regions in the world are only markets for the resale of drugs
produced in Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Peru,
Chile and Columbia. According to the Interpol data, the drug route from
the South-East Asia to the consumers markets in Western Europe goes from
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to many centers in Turkey - Istanbul being
the most important one. Interpol estimates say that about 90% of heroin
confiscated in Europe comes from Turkey over Bulgaria and Macedonia. On
that route, first Iranian, then Lebanese and finally Turkish drug network
appeared 30 years ago. In the meantime, Bulgarian and Albanian mafia grew
up on drug smuggling, using the Balkans roads, air and water ways to enter
Europe and America.
Production and distribution of narcotics is the main source of income
and the base of power in many South American countries, in the Middle Eastern
part of Asia and in the north of Africa. The case of Manuel Noriega from
Panama, whose coup in Nicaragua was partly drug financed was rather vocal
about the power of drug dealers. In some parts of Asia one third of inhabitants
make their living by smuggling drugs that sometimes end up on the streets
of cities like Zurich and Amsterdam in Europe where drug addicts live and
die in the streets.
In the countries where narco-mafia predominates, power and purpose of
government has been eliminated. Money made in trade of drugs, then seeks
to get legitimate and is often times invested in many developing programs
of rich countries.
In former Yugoslavia, the Albanian mafia made $45 million annually in
1990s by controlling the Turkish drug chain from Istanbul through Zurich
to New York. A large chunk of this money returned to Kosovo to finance
separatist activities inside the province as well as use the money to buy
sympathies from the international NGOs that will implicitly advocate Kosovo
Albanian separatist agenda.
Ethnic Albanians were initiated as the couriers for the Turkish and
Bulgarian state mafia thirty years ago. These used smuggling of narcotics
as the source of financing secret political, military and intelligence
service operations. The majority of them were recruited in the "Kosovo
triangle" Veliki Trnovac-Preševo-Gnjilane, marked on Interpol map as a
black point on world drug routes.
French expert on narcotics, Alen Labrus described Kosovo Albanian drug
smuggling operations to the Washington Post as being managed by tough,
merciless bands that have displaced Turks as the leading smuggling clan:
"Powerful Turkish clans controlling Europe heroin market, realized
that Russian, Caucasian and Albanian narco-mafia have invaded their territory
in the last ten years, looking for their part of the market and profit.
Kosovo ethnic Albanians have become so strong that they keep under their
control 70% of drug market just in Switzerland. The war in the Balkans
interrupted previous Yugoslav channels of drug smuggling from the Middle
East to Europe, but the agile Albanians have opened new distributive centers
in the past 4 years and new passages to the West. The Albanian connection
represents a heroin route causing great problems to European policemen
and European countries,” said Labrus.
Bloody Karafaka
Story of Karakafa Mehmed-Ali illustrates the nascent steps ethnic Albanian
mafia initiated in late 1960s and 70s that led to their predominance in
the European drug business and a tragic narco-financed war in Kosovo.
41 years old Karakafa Mehmed-Ali, born in Veliki Trnovac near Bujanovac
in Kosovo, organized one of the largest heroin smuggling operations from
Turkey, through Yugoslavia to Italy. His partners in Yugoslavia, writes
Italian Interpol, were Osmani brothers - Adnan and Fatmir, Latif Memeti
and Ismet Arifi, all from Veliki Trnovac, as well as Milka Domazet and
Ismet Lenani from Banja Luka.
Karakafa Mehmed Ali was a well known criminal figure in the former Yugoslavia.
He was sentenced in 1960s to 4 years and 6 months in jail in Nis for smuggling
gold, and in 1972 he was sentenced to 6 years for smuggling ammunition:
100,000 bullets smuggled from Germany.
The members of the Republic Secretariat for the Internal Affairs and
Federal Secretariat for the Interior made a plan and discovered activities
of “Karakafa’s group”. Italian Interpol informed Federal Secretariat for
the Interior that Osmani brothers, Milka Domazet and others stayed in Milan
and had contacts with Italian and Arab smugglers. So the Inspectors decided
to start dealing with a group from Milka Domazet from Banja Luka where
Milka had worked as a waitress for years. She lived with her husband, son
and a daughter. She had a car of Reno 16 make and new household appliances,
and went ten times abroad within the period of two years.
On March 9, 1981, Karafaka’s partner Milka Domazet took her 18 year
old daughter Senka for a World Tour in her French car Reno 16 via Turkey.
The same evening they were in Istanbul where Milka got a heroin load inside
her car and drove back. The next day, Milka checked in the Hotel Balkan
in Belgrade where she made a telephone call to Adnan Osmani in Sofia. Adnan
dispatched his brother Fatmir so they can make a fictitious contract of
a car sale, supposedly bought here Reno, sat in it with his brother Jakup
and started on the second leg of the tour to Italy.
Milka’s vehicle was stopped by Yugoslav inspectors and found hiding
place with a tin lid under the back seat 32 plastic packages of 500 grams
of cocaine and 16 kg of heroin worth 1.6 million Deutsche Marks. Fatmir,
Jakup and Milka were arrested were arrested as well as Milka along
with Sabedin Sabedini from Istanbul.
Police was informed, however, that Sabedin is the false name for Karakafa
Mehmed Ali, but were surprised that he’d dare come to Yugoslavia.
Sabedini was claiming that it was his real identity, that he was a trader
from Istanbul and that he was in Belgrade on business. Only when he was
showed his photo with fingerprints taken at his arrest in Nis did he changed
his story.
He admitted to be working on behalf of three Turkish citizens having
a lab for heroin production in a Turkish town of Gaziantep. The drugs were
then transported to Istanbul where ethnic Albanians Latif Memeti and Ismet
Arifi from Veliki Trnovac and Salih Lenani and Milka Domazet would transport
them to Milan, Italy.
Adnan and Fatmir Osmani were shipping caretakers assuring prompt deliveries.
Once Osmani brothers assured Milan deliveries, Karafaka would fly to Milan
from Istanbul and sale the heroin to Italian or Arab mob to distribute
to streets across Europe. Karafaka would take the money by plane back to
Turkey get 50,000 DM for the transport plus a 2% commission on the amount
sold in Italy. Adnan Osmani got paid 15,000 DM per delivery while Milka
Domazet got under 3,000 DM per delivery plus a free Reno 16.
The District court of Belgrade sentenced Karakafa to 10 years, Adnan
Osmani to 4 years, Fatmir to three years, Salih Lenani to four years, Latif
Memedi to three years and Milka Domazet to 18 months. 4 Reno 16 cars were
confiscated. By the decision of the President of Yugoslavia, Karakafa was
released in spring of 1990.
Spanish Connection
On July 18, 1999 Madrid's newspaper El Mundo reported that the
ethnic Albanian mafia in the glitzy Spanish tourist area Sunny Coast finances
terrorist activities of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the KLA. Experts at
fight against mafia kept warning Spanish government for two years that
there was a danger to the Iberian peninsula brought by a large number of
Kosovo ethnic Albanians involved in criminal activity on bases of fierce
and sometimes brutal clan loyalty. Spanish Defense Secretary, Ricardo Martin
Fluja, remarked that there were 16 ethnic Albanian mafia clans in Spain
at the time made up of immigrants from the Balkans that illegally sneaked
into the Spanish tourist area of Sunny Coast.
"There are about 600 mafia members of Kosovo ethnic Albanians acting
in this area, most of them came from Germany from where they have been
expelled as the dangerous ones. Kosovo ethnic Albanians’ mafia is extremely
violent and aggressive in their search for money. This new mafia brought
to Spain the uncivilized way of living and organization. They behave as
the members of KLA, carry guns and use them while collecting money for
the purchase of new guns for KLA," said Martin Fluja, Spanish Defense Minister.
The Spanish journalists tried to explain to their readers how the Albanian
mafia functioned in Spain.
"All Albanian refugees from Kosovo, and from other parts in Europe,
are obliged to pay monthly tribute," wrote El Mundo and added that
one mafia group collected 180 million pesetas in one month, about $1.1
million, for KLA needs.
According to El Mundo, the biggest problem for Spanish police
was the fact that there is hardly a dealer who had a legitimate passport.
"When we arrest them on charges of drug possession, gun carrying, extortion...
we can't deport them because almost no one possesses a valid passport.
Our government has given them the status of refugees and we are helpless."
This Spanish tacit acknowledgment that the government is not capable
of eradicating the Albanian narco-mafia in the country started to endanger
the strongest industry- tourism.
Slovak Republic had a similar problem especially since the end of July
1999 when KLA and Albanian authority were legalized in Kosovo by NATO forces
that took control over Kosovo. Slovak capital Bratislava became one of
the strongest centers of Albanian underground in Europe funneling drug
money to Kosovo Albanian separatist groups.
Ethnic Albanian boss for Slovakia, Nedmedin Zeka, got to run the drug
action in Slovak capital Bratislava after he wiggled out of sentencing
by escaping from the Prague court in May 1999, where the decision had to
be made on his extradition at the request of Germany. Zeka hid in Bratislava
where he became an owner of an Italian shoe shop Italo that functioned
as a cover for his drug activities.
"The special Slovak police forces action failed on July 16, 1999 while
preparing the arrest of Nedmedin Zeka, head of the International narco-gang,"
reported Bratislava newspapers, Radio & TV. A group of 20 disguised
special policemen surrounded a shoe shop Italo belonging to a Kosovo
ethnic Albanian. A search of the shop and the apartment was made, some
guns were found, as well as two "suspicious" men. The one they were
looking for - the head of the International narco-net was not, however,
found, and the arrested Albanians were released due to the lack of evidence.
This intervention should have been the crown of a 4 year long international
police action under the name Pristina against drug smugglers on
the Balkan route from Turkey over former Yugoslavia, Hungary and Slovakia
to the Czech Republic from where heroin went on to the West.
Zeka left Bratislava and apparently got promoted into a drug boss for
Italy.
In mid 1999 Hungarian police arrested Nedmedin Zeka and handed him over
to Italy because Zeka was one of the Albanian gang bosses responsible for
criminal action there.
It was apparent that these narco-bosses across Europe were targeted
in a coordinated manner. An arrest of another ethnic Albanian boss for
Holland, Remzi Canaj, arrested around the same time, attests to this.
Once Rugova, now Taci
KLA: drug money was the headline of an article in the French
magazine Poen on July 15, 1999 that explained the way terrorist
organization of Kosovo Albanians had been financed. Poen said that
it was using information from Geneva security report and concluded that
KLA was supported by Kosovo Albanian immigrants in Switzerland and Germany,
but the main financing, said the text, originated from drug trafficking.
Poen said that "every employed Kosovar has to contribute SF 4000
for the KLA." As evidence they quoted Bardhil Mahmuti, one of KLA
leaders in Switzerland:
"Since the end of 1998 our money from abroad, either from immigrant
workers or gangsters, was used only for the purchase of guns for the fight
against the Serbs," said Mahmuti.
Two of the largest Kosovo Albanian emigrant communities in Europe, the
180,000 strong Swiss and 150,000 German expatriates, financed Kosovo Democratic
association headed by Ibrahim Rugova with the contribution amounting to
3% of the earnings, elaborated Poen. According to Poen, the contributed
funds financed "40% of the budget of the separatist government in Pristina,"
that was led by current president Ibrahim Rugova. Rugova's primacy in funding
got displaced when a para-military group was formed and became the main
recipient of the money. The leadership of KLA, most notably Hasim Taci,
was taking a cut from donations made to Rugova. Taci was later supported
by the Clinton administration.
Despite what the Poen reported in 1998, none of it was of any
help for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. By 1999 the KLA well armed and initiated
a sequence of pogroms against ethnic Serbs in Kosovo that triggered equally
brutal response from the Milosevic government. Things were quickly to spiral
into warfare.
Go to Part 2 of Chapter 1 -->
Marko Lopusina is a veteran
reporter for the Belgrade based independent weekly Nedeljni Telegraf and
an author of numerous books.
