European investigation confirms the actions of the Albanian mafia in Ecuador

A three-year investigation carried out by European authorities confirmed that the Albanian mafia operates in Ecuador to traffic cocaine to the old continent.

An investigation by the European authorities confirmed that the Albanian mafia operates in Ecuador to traffic cocaine to the old continent.

The ‘Eureka’ operation dismantled the ‘Ndrangheta’, one of the four Italian families dedicated to the mafia.

The investigation determined that this Italian criminal organization collaborated with the ‘Primeiro Comando da Capital’ in Brazil, with the ‘Clan del Golfo’ in Colombia and with a group of Albanian origin in Ecuador.

The objective of the ‘Ndrangheta’ was to ship South American drugs   to ports such as Antwerp, Rotterdam or Gioia Tauro, in Calabria. Part of the cocaine would also have been sent to Germany, Spain and Australia.

This Italian family is so powerful that it is the only one that manages to get drugs on credit from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, producing countries. It also has a monopoly on the wholesale distribution of cocaine in Europe.

Albanian mafia in Ecuador

According to local investigators, the fact that the ‘Ndrangheta’ collaborates with “a group of Albanian origin in Ecuador” explains the assassination in the form of a hitman suffered by six Albanian citizens in the last decade in Ecuador.

It is that the Albanian mafia would have two currents in our country. The one, which handles the drugs that arrive from Peru and the second, which operates with cocaine from Colombia.

This rivalry would translate into the killings that take place between local gangs in Ecuador, which the police say are the product “of the fight for territory for drug trafficking.”

The Albanian mafia is interested in all organized criminal groups operating in the country, but they prefer the biggest ones, with more territory, logistics and firepower.

With Albanian stamp

The Albanian mafia, one of the poorest countries in Europe, specializes in logistics for drugs to reach European ports from Ecuador.

According to anti-drug agencies, Ecuador’s ports and coastline are used by drug traffickers to ship 80 percent of the cocaine that leaves the country.

The researchers were able to determine four mechanisms used by Albanians to ship the drug to Europe.

The first is through companies, basically agro-exporters, which allows them to hide the drug in any shipment.

The second is the well-known ‘blind hook’ that consists of contaminating containers that carry legal cargo with drugs.

In the third, drugs are hidden in the cavities of the ships, to later recover them with small boats on the high seas.

Lastly, there is the tying of drugs to the hulls of ships that are docked in ports.

Last week, unknown persons ambushed a Navy vehicle, killing a crew member and injuring the captain of the Port of Posorja, a town through which ships leaving the port of Guayaquil cross.

The Navy said the attack was a retaliation by drug traffickers for port control and coastal surveillance.

Links with Ecuadorians

There is an Albanian who caused a shock in the high political and social spheres of Ecuador: Dritan Gjika.

The Albanian runs various businesses, including a banana exporter related to an importer from his country accused of drug trafficking. 

Gjika appears as a partner of Rubén Cherres, close to Danilo Carrera, brother-in-law of the president, Guillermo Lasso.

Cherres was assassinated at the end of March, in a crime that has the seal of the mafia and of which no details have been released.