Twenty arrest warrants have been approved as prosecutors investigate an alleged network accused of drug trafficking, money laundering, and the acquisi.
The Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK) has launched one of the largest operations in recent years against an alleged criminal network suspected of international drug trafficking, money laundering, and the acquisition of valuable properties through disputed ownership schemes, including strategic coastal land in Zvërnec.
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The Special Court has approved 20 arrest warrants targeting individuals accused of participating in a structured criminal group involved in narcotics trafficking and the laundering of illicit proceeds. According to investigators, the network allegedly used a sophisticated system that combined questionable property transactions, legal disputes, and large-scale real estate investments to conceal the origin of criminal funds.
Among the names emerging from the investigation is former judge Alaudin Malaj, who is referenced in the case file in connection with judicial decisions involving disputed properties later linked to individuals under investigation. Prosecutors are examining whether court rulings issued in previous years created conditions that allowed members of the alleged network to secure control over valuable land parcels and subsequently benefit from commercial development projects.
A significant portion of the investigation focuses on properties in Zvërnec, one of Albania's most sought-after coastal areas. According to SPAK, thousands of square meters of land were allegedly managed through a series of transactions involving the company "AL-GO shpk" and ownership transfers among relatives and associated individuals. Investigators argue that rapid changes in shareholding structures and sudden increases in company capital may indicate efforts to obscure ownership and financial flows after the investigation had already begun.
Prosecutors suspect that the scheme followed a recurring pattern. Land allegedly obtained through contested documentation was divided, transferred, and resold before being incorporated into luxury construction projects along the Albanian coast and in Tirana. Through this process, investigators believe illicit proceeds generated from criminal activity may have been transformed into seemingly legitimate investments.
The case file also refers to the alleged use of falsified historical documentation intended to justify ownership claims over valuable land. Investigators note that some judicial decisions supporting those claims were later overturned by higher courts due to significant legal and procedural concerns.
Beyond Zvërnec, SPAK is examining a broader network of construction investments and property acquisitions in strategic areas across Albania. Prosecutors suspect that the real estate and construction sectors may have been used as vehicles to integrate proceeds derived from international drug trafficking into the formal economy.
According to investigators, the operation reveals what they describe as a highly sophisticated mechanism in which disputed property claims, judicial decisions, corporate structures, and alleged criminal capital became intertwined within a single financial scheme. Authorities believe the network's activities may have influenced some of the country's most lucrative development projects over the past decade.
The investigation remains ongoing, and under Albanian law all individuals named in the proceedings are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty by a final court decision.