Albanian Police seized 18 illegal weapons bases on Thursday in the capital, Tirana, which they believe are connected to organised crime groups and arrested five people. Another two were declared wanted.
The police operation, codenamed “Complex”, also helped uncover three past unsolved crimes related to guns and explosives.
“The 18 bases were used for the modification, storage and sale of combat weapons by criminal groups that committed crimes against people,” the police said in a press release as quoted by Birn on Thursday.
They added that they found and seized different kinds of weapons, such as snipers, anti-tank weapons and police and army radios.
“Police seized an arsenal of various types of weapons – snipers, anti-tank guns, Kalashnikovs, pistols, silencers, police and army radios, thermal optics for snipers, various parts for modifying weapons and quantities of ammunition, plus seven vehicles, two of them armoured,” the same press release said.
During the operation, they detained three persons named Paris Prenga, Bledar Deda and Flor Abazi, for whom the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, had earlier issued detention orders. A fourth man, Sokol Gjura, was declared wanted because he left Albania some weeks before.
“These persons, together with two other previously arrested persons, Ermond Jamaku and Enver Jamaku, are suspected of being the perpetrators of an event that took place on October 18, 2019, in Tirana, when an attempt was made to kill a citizen, A.B., with a remote-controlled explosive,” police said.
“The wanted person Sokol Gjura is suspected, together with the two other previously arrested persons, Ermond Jamaku and Enver Jamaku, of being the perpetrator of an armed attack on a citizen, P.P., on September 10, 2017, in Muhamet Deliu St in Tirana,” police said.
“These persons are also suspected of being the perpetrators that placed explosives, grenades and firearms, as well as suspected narcotics, such as heroin, in the apartment of a citizen, E. S., on September 15, 2017, in Tirana,” they added.
The police arrested also Bujar Jaupi and found 25 silencers and other materials for producing weapons that he had made. Another arrested man, Arben Sufa, was found with a pistol and parts for silencers at his home. The police had also found various weapons and drugs at the homes of the others detained or declared wanted on Thursday.
