The investor from Dubai/ How drug trafficking money was laundered in construction projects in Tirana

2024-08-30 17:38:00, Aktualitet Klodiana Lala

The investor from Dubai/ How drug trafficking money was laundered in

Data provided by a court decision and communications through the SKY ECC application show that drug lord Franc Çopja was a shadow investor in construction projects in Tirana, while running his money laundering operations from Dubai.

In September 2020, Klajdi Merkaj was planning a trip to Dubai to secure ample funding for the expansion of his construction business in Tirana.

Only 31 years old at the time, Merkaj was building, through the company he founded, a complex of luxury villas in Lundër – the wealthy suburban area surrounding the Albanian capital, but his ambitions were bigger.

While negotiating the purchase of two expensive plots of land in Tirana, Merkaj realized that he needed more money. He turned for help to Franc Çopje, an Albanian boss of the international cocaine traffic, otherwise known as Franc Gergely.

Merkaj is accused of communicating with Çopje through the Sky ECC application and had previously informed him about his business plans.

"For both countries, we have spent a lot to make it happen. We received OK," he informed Çopje, while asking for a capital of 1.5 million euros in cash.

The communications through the Sky ECC application between Klajdi Merkaj and Franc Çopje are part of a voluminous decision of the Special Court for security measures against the criminal organization "Çopja", accused of a series of paid murders, international trafficking of large quantities of cocaine as well as money laundering with criminal sources.

In addition to the bloody conflicts, these communications also expose some limited examples of a phenomenon that is believed to be many times more widespread than the laundering of narco-trafficking money in towers and construction complexes in Tirana.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is known as a "criminal haven" for a number of Albanian organized crime figures, who hid there to escape arrest or assassination by rival groups.

Franc Çopja is believed to have stayed in Dubai from 2020 until December 2023, when he was extradited to Belgium as the mastermind of a murder to "disrupt drug deals".

Investigators believe he directed an army of men from Dubai to launder his money in Albania and negotiated business deals that made him a secret investor in construction projects in Tirana.

During the year 2020, to which the conversations held at SKY ECC belong, Çopja is documented to have brought to Albania at least 7.5 million dry euros, which were invested in the construction of a building near the "Mother Teresa" University Hospital Center, in the purchase of expensive apartments in some of the towers of Tirana as well as two villas in the "Mandarine Drive" complex behind the TEG shopping center, built by the company founded by Merkaj.

A larger amount of 15.4 million euros is suspected to have been invested a year later in the purchase of gold ingots from Çopja.

According to Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency that coordinated the crackdown on the Chopja group in late July, this organization used complex transactions to launder money generated by illegal activities.

"Among those arrested is a money launderer based in Tirana, who offered his services to several other high-level criminal groups, engaged internationally in murder, corruption and drug trafficking on a large scale," he declared. Interpol.

The arrest warrant for the charge of money laundering against Klajdi Merkaj has not yet been executed and he is wanted. Contacted by BIRN, his brother Endri Merkaj, who owns the construction company, did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

"Needs oxygen"

The investor from Dubai/ How drug trafficking money was laundered in

The criminal organization run by brothers from Elbasan, Franc Çopja, 32, and Hajdar Çopja, 40, was busted at the end of July by the Special Prosecutor's Office, SPAK, in cooperation with Europol and law enforcement authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

The international operation was codenamed "Gorgon", monstrous figures from Greek mythology with Medusa as their best-known representative.

According to the court decision that BIRN has, the Çopja organization is accused of killing seven people and injuring two others between 2018-2020, while trying to eliminate the opposing group Alibej through the hiring of paid assassins.

The organization is believed to have originated in 2006-2007 in Italy, where the Çopja brothers started their criminal activity as distributors of small doses of cocaine.

"Over the years, the Çopja brothers became very powerful from the sale and trafficking of drugs, where from Italy they extended their criminal activity to other countries in Europe, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom," the decision states.

In 2020, the organization extended to several European Union countries and cultivated links with cocaine wholesalers in Latin America. Investigators believe that the Çopja group has also trafficked drugs in Asian countries such as India and Singapore or in South Africa.

While fighting for revenge and trafficking significant amounts of cocaine on the international market, the Çopja group was also looking for opportunities to launder money earned through illegal activities in Albania.

Of the 7.5 million euros documented in 2020, three million of them were allegedly injected into the "Elba Beton" company owned by Arjan Ormenaj to carry out the construction of a building near the "Mother Teresa" university hospital center in Tirana.

"Elba Beton" is a company founded in 2001 by Arben Lamçja, 50 years old - convicted in Italy for exploitation of prostitution in the late 90's and confidant of Franc Chopje in the administration and money laundering. In 2006, Lamçja sold the company to Arjan Ormenaj, but investigators believe he continued to remain as her shadow partner.

Ormenaj is also a shareholder in six other business companies, among which "Trans Cement" sh.pk "Elba Beton" together with its sister company "Trans Cement" developed construction projects on the beach of Golem and in Tirana between 2021-2023 .

According to the court's decision, Arben Lamçja and Arjan Ormenaj have carried out active actions on behalf of the heads of the Çopja organization through the purchase of real estate, the financing of the construction of residential buildings and the opening of economic operators in order not to expose them as possessors and owners of facto.

In one case, Lamçja wrote to Çopje in January 2020 that Ormenaj was planning to build a building near hospital no. 5 and had asked him to ask Franci if he wanted to enter as an investor with a value of 2 million euros.

Chopja replies that it is not a problem for the lek. "Arjan Ormenaj has the door open without time and without number," he is quoted as writing.

Ten months later, Lamçja informs Çopje again that Ormenaj "needs oxygen".

At the same time, according to the court decision, Lamçja and Ormenaj bought apartments on behalf of Çopje and registered them in the names of relatives or his social circle.

The arrest of Ormenaj was not possible during the operation, being wanted for the criminal offense of money laundering, while Arben Lamçja was arrested in Kosovo at the beginning of August and extradited to Albania.

Ormenaj was unavailable for comment, while Arben Lamçje's lawyer, Altin Gjata, did not comment on the accusations, as he said that he should be familiar with all the Prosecution's evidence.

But he told BIRN that Lamçja had previously been subject to a property investigation by Serious Crimes and the case against him had been dropped.

From tire business to construction

The investor from Dubai/ How drug trafficking money was laundered in

"Mandarine Drive" is a complex of luxury villas on the outskirts of Tirana, built on a gentle, once green hill behind the TEG shopping center. The villas belong to modern architecture, each have a personal swimming pool and are listed by real estate agencies with sales prices ranging from 1 million to 1.5 million euros each.

The "Mandarine Drive" complex is an investment of the company Merkaj 3 sh.pk, founded in 2013 by Klajdi Merkaj when he was only 24 years old, with the activity of trading tires for heavy vehicles. In 2017, Merkaj sold the shares to his brother and the company marked a sudden ascent, being involved in the construction project of the "Mandarine Drive" villa complex.

However, the data provided by the decision of the Special Court suggest that Klajdi Merkaj continued to perform actions on behalf of the company.

Communications in the Sky ECC application with Franc Chopjen identify Merkaj as a person engaged in money transfers from the United Kingdom to Albania. On several occasions during 2020, he sends Cópje postcodes, which according to open sources turn out to be homes in London, Luton and the suburbs of Birmingham.

He also takes care to sell Chopje's cars and hide the ownership of their two villas in the "Mandarine Drive" complex.

"Citizen Klajdi Merkaj is identified as one of the trusted persons who holds and manages significant cash values ??for the account of citizen Franc Gergely," the court decision states.

"... according to the order and orientation of the citizen Franc Gergely (Çopja), he received and transported cash values, which were then invested in construction and the purchase of real estate for the account of the citizen Franc Gergely," it added.

Parking money

The investor from Dubai/ How drug trafficking money was laundered in

In addition to construction entrepreneurs, Franc Çopja also used other people for his money laundering operations in Albania.

Two of them are suspected of being the owners of a currency exchange point "B.Lika, Çimi & Keni" in front of the Bank of Albania, Bashkim Lika and Maklen Mici, who are accused of using their business as a financial base for the Çopja criminal organization.

The prosecution accuses Mici that, as a user of the currency exchange point, he kept 2.3 million euros in these premises in one case, which belonged to Franc Çopje and a part of which was withdrawn by Arben Lamçja.

In a second case, Dorjan Dyli, a pharmacist by profession, received the sum of 121 thousand euros near the currency exchange point, which he used as the first installment for the purchase of an apartment in a building in front of the Faculty of Economics, which is identified as "palace with a red facade" in the file. He withdrew the money identifying himself with the code name "Valkani's friend".

The apartment cost a total of 236,000 euros, but Dyli covered the rest with a fictitious bank loan, which he paid off with the money sent by Çopja and which was at the Mici currency exchange point.

In one of the conversations that is in the court decision, Dyli explained to Çopje that "the director of the bank had advised him that the transfer of payments should be made every 5-6 days with monetary amounts of 7,000 to 10,000 euros, since when cash payments are made they cannot be traced, only because they have high commissions".

Franc Çopja appears particularly interested in buying pure 24-carat gold in January 2021, and the person who took care of securing the gold was the money changer Mici.

In one case, Mici is accused of providing 10 kilograms of pure gold to Çopje, but the boss of the organization asked him to provide another 30 kilograms, which turned out to have been brought to Albania.

In the communications between them, the investigators say that they also found photos of gold ingots worth 15.4 million euros. According to the decision, Mici had secured the gold bars worth 15.4 million euros on behalf of Franc Çopje.

Lika and Mici were arrested during the operation at the end of July on charges of laundering proceeds of crime, but their lawyer Adriatik Kuka told BIRN that they have nothing to do with the criminal activity attributed to them and that "they are shocked by the charges".

Kuka also said that his clients are regular tax payers, well-known traders in the city of Tirana and practitioners of the Muslim religion.

"Since they are practitioners of the Muslim religion, because of their religion, they have nothing to do with criminal activities. Therefore, they cannot violate the legal/human norms that are in conflict with human rights and laws in force," concluded Kuka./ Reporter.al