FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Aleks Pepaj, 38, brother of Jetmir "Mir" Pepa and according to SPAK the man who directed the collection of cocaine money for the Pepa criminal group from Dubai, was captured today in the United Arab Emirates. Interpol Tirana's "The Wanted" operation, in cooperation with its counterparts in Abu Dhabi, finalized his arrest along with four other Albanian citizens declared internationally wanted by the Special Prosecution.
Among the five arrested for extradition are Kristo Qirici, 44 (also known by the alias Jetmir Hoxhaj and Jetimir Qirici, brother of murdered businessman Edmond Papa), Shkëlzen Kraja, 44, Ilir Lazri, 30, and Merxhan Celiku, 34, the latter accused of computer fraud. The other four, including Aleks Pepaj, are accused of criminal activity in the field of narcotics.
The capture of Aleks Pepaj constitutes the second serious blow to the Pepa family in six weeks. On April 15, 2026, SPAK signed 11 arrest warrants with decision no. 20 of the GJKKO upon the request of prosecutor Alfred Shehu. That day in Tirana, the eldest brother, Lulzim Pepa, 52 years old, was arrested, while Aleksi and Jetmir managed to remain on the run. Now the remaining burden falls solely on Jetmir Pepa, the head of the criminal organization.
Aleks Pepaj's role in the investigation file is structural, not peripheral. According to the intercepts of the SkyECC platform decrypted by SPAK's European partners, he was brother Jetmir's right-hand man and the point of contact with foreign operators in Latin America and Europe. In one of the SKY conversations, Aleksi reports to his brother from Dubai: "I have 30 million euros from work and I still can't collect them. I also received 15 million dirhams, I want them here in Dubai." The figure in dirhams equivalent to about 330 million lek suggests a genuine financial hub of the group in the Emirates.
The criminal group led by the Pepa brothers is accused of trafficking 7.5 tons of cocaine from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia to the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp during 2019-2021, in investigative cooperation with Eurojust, Europol and agencies in France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. SPAK has seized 232 assets worth 12 million euros, including the Pepa Group company that has benefited from over 50 million euros in public tenders in the school construction and reconstruction sector.
With the capture of Aleks Pepaj, Albanian investigators gain access to the only person who knows the group's financial map outside Albania in detail: contacts in Latin America, joint cargo partners, accounts in Dubai and the network of money that has not yet been laundered. Extradition procedures have begun. The Albania-United Arab Emirates agreement has significantly shortened the route in recent years, and it is expected that within weeks he will be transferred to Tirana.
Mir Pepa, the head of an economic empire that has invested 69 million euros in Albania, now remains alone, while the authorities seem to have followed his footsteps. /Pamphlet
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