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Former Police Chief: Italians and Spaniards labeled Tirana as a center for laundering the proceeds of crime
Former head of the State Police, Shemsi Prençi, commented on the podcast "Të Pashoq" on the latest operation by SPAK, Italian and Spanish authorities against a criminal drug trafficking and money laundering group, stating that Albania has been considered by international institutions for years as a "laundering machine" for criminal money.
According to Prençi, international reports have long identified Albania as one of the centers where money from international drug trafficking is laundered.
" For a long time, many reports from international institutions, especially European ones, have unfortunately treated Albania as a money laundering machine for the criminal world. Of illegal activity, mainly international drug trafficking. Unfortunately, they even implicate segments of the Albanian government, which favor these criminal organizations, with construction permits, whether in Tirana or on the coast. Even in this operation, the Italians and the Spanish labeled Tirana as the center for laundering the proceeds of crime ," Prençi declared.
He praised the cooperation between SPAK, the State Police and international agencies such as Europol and Eurojust, while saying that in recent years there had been a lack of trust in Albanian institutions.
" I express gratitude and respect for all the agencies that are engaged in this enterprise of the fight against crime. Be it Europol, Eurojust, Guardia di Finanza and the Spanish authorities. For a period of time, for the sake of truth, due to the leadership implicated in some problems, they were distanced in the framework of cooperation. While with the arrival of Skënder Hitaj at the head of the Police, credibility has increased and this must be said ," he said.
Prenç also raised concerns about the leakage of information in anti-crime operations, emphasizing that many people manage to escape arrest.
" The operations are large, but the problem is that not all arrests are executed. Some are dismissed, some are reported. This shows that maintaining operational secrecy remains a challenge. If only peripheral members are caught and the leaders of criminal groups remain free, then the criminal group has not been eliminated. They continue to conduct criminal activity and money laundering for years to come ," declared the former head of the Police.
According to Prençi, the State Police has not been able to conduct large preventive operations against organized crime on its own for years.
" The State Police has not been conducting operations on its own for years, preceding attacks with preventive proceedings. Prevention is the primary duty of the State Police. SPAK conducts criminal investigations into specific events, but prevention should be done by the police. This shows that we still have serious problems in the functioning of security structures and the fight against crime ," Prençi said on the "Të Pashoj" podcast.
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