FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Idlir Karkini, who was fired by the secret services for turning off drug radars, returns to monitoring the maritime borders. The Minister of Defense gives him 220 million lek without competition for the radar in Sazan, while remaining silent about his criminal record and the robbery of the military training ground in Spille...
On May 16, 2025, the Minister of Defense, Pirro Vengu, signed a tender worth 220 million lek with VAT, for the commissioning of the “PRT-17” radar on the island of Sazan. But what turns this tender into a serious national scandal is the fact that the contract was awarded without competition and with 99% of the limit fund to the company “IDEA-TEL Sh.pk”, owned by Idlir Karkin, a name listed by Albanian and international secret services as the “boss” of drug trafficking radars.
Karkini, a resident of Kavaja and connected to powerful circles in the political dome, returns after 7 years to the maritime border surveillance system, thanks to the decision of Minister Vengu. It was precisely this person who, according to security documents, during the years 2014–2017 controlled the switching on and off of the Albanian army radars, according to a schedule dictated by drug trafficking networks. At that time, he operated under the blessing of former Defense Minister Mimi Kodheli and with the full knowledge of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
With the new tender in Sazan, it seems that another chapter has been opened for the involvement of incriminated structures in critical defense infrastructure. This development follows another suspicious act: on June 20, 2025, just four days after the tender for the radars was awarded, Minister Vengu traveled to France to sign a contract with the company “Thales”, for the installation of a new radar on the same island. Unexpectedly, the American company “Lockheed Martin”, which had managed the system for five years, has left the project.
Meanwhile, Thales publicly declared on June 20 that it is supporting “Albania’s airspace sovereignty” through its Ground Master 400 Alpha radar. But it remains unclear what links lie between this international contract and Karkin’s return to the scene, through a separate tender as a “technical part.”
The scandal deepens even further: Karkini turns out to have a criminal file opened by the Kavaja Prosecutor's Office, after the Ministry of Defense itself reported him. He is accused of robbing a military property, the anti-aircraft firing base on the Spille coast with an area of 9,200 m2, using forged documents. However, the military authorities, including the General Staff and the Ministry itself, "forgot" to follow up on the case further and did not request the return of the property.
Instead of being excluded from any contact with national security, Idlir Karkini has not only never been seriously investigated, but has now triumphantly returned to control of the radars at one of the country's most strategic points, Sazan Island.
In this case, in addition to Minister Vengu's responsibility, the silence of security institutions, including SHISH and SPAK, is a serious alarm about the compromise of defense structures in Albania./ Pamphlet
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