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| Fier Police Commissariat |
The police operation came after a decision by the Fier Court, which a few days ago imposed a preventive seizure of Shanaj's real estate and other persons, his family members.
According to the Albanian police, the seized assets related to Arian Shanaj include 3 gas construction and trading companies operating in Fier, Durres, Tirana and Korça.
According to police among the confiscated assets are also 1 three-story hotel in Fier and an attached service unit, 2 three-story villas, 5 service units with a total area of 7,982 m2, 3 apartments, 4 garages with an area of 1,092 m2 in Fier, Tirana, Durres, 8 793 m2 of land in Tirana, Durres and Fier, a vehicle worth $ 50,000 and about $ 25,000 in bank accounts.
According to police, Shanaj was arrested in June 2017 by Greek police along with a Greek national after being seized with 20kg of cocaine, with an estimated market value of about $ 1m.
Albanian police said that "the Albanian citizen and the Greek citizen were involved in the importation, storage, mixing, counterfeiting, recertification, trafficking, transportation and distribution of cocaine from Latin American countries."
State Police said that immediately after the arrest in Greece and the exchange of information with the Greek side, were launched investigations against the Albanian citizen for the criminal offense of "Cleansing the proceeds of crime".
Data published by the Greek press at that time referring to the Greek police authorities indicated that the organization's leaders had direct communication with a drug cartel in Colombia dealing with cocaine trafficking.
The drugs, according to Greek police, coming from Latin America to the Balkans, were processed in Kosovo and Albania and stored in the area of Trikala in Greece for distribution to some of the Greek tourist islands.