SPAK: The Çopja brothers cleaned the money with constructions in Tirana, Durrës and Elbasan

2024-08-01 19:08:00, Kronika CNA

SPAK: The Çopja brothers cleaned the money with constructions in Tirana,

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The brothers Franc Çopja and Hajdar Çopja have been targeted by SPAK, which accuses them of international cocaine trafficking and the establishment of a criminal organization.

SPAK says that the brothers, based in Elbasan, started the cocaine traffic in Italy and then spread to other countries in Europe and beyond.

According to the Special Prosecutor's Office, Franc and Hajdar Çopja cleaned the money gained from this illegal activity through construction.

The announcement states that they bought real estate in Tirana, Elbasan and Durrës, as well as built buildings and residential complexes.

They transferred the money through foreign exchange offices to trusted persons, in order to make investments on their behalf, but also to pay for contract killings.

"Regarding money laundering, from the data provided by the prosecuting body, it appears that this criminal organization has invested in Albania a part of the income derived from the criminal activity of international drug trafficking, mainly in the property market real estate (through the purchase of various properties such as apartments, villas, bars and restaurants and land), in the cities of Tirana, Elbasan and Durrës.

By conducting intensive investigations, interesting information was obtained regarding the assets, investments and assets of the two brothers in Albania, the forms used by them as well as the persons involved in the process of cleaning the proceeds of the criminal offense or criminal activity.

The use of the construction sector by criminal organizations is evidenced, where, through third parties, it has injected and invested significant amounts of cash for the realization of works on residential buildings in the construction process, as well as in the construction of residential buildings/complexes from the beginning.

It turns out that the criminal organization has invested in the hatching of economic operators as well as the use of existing economic operators with activity in Albania, which "de jure" have been registered in the name of their social, friendly and cooperative ties, not exposing the owners of "de facto" and their use as camouflage/concealment of the true nature of the source and activity, in order to launder the money derived from criminal activity.

Also, it is evident that the citizen FG (otherwise known as F. Ç.) has, on repeated occasions, carried out the transfer of significant monetary values ??in cash through the use of foreign exchange offices (Exchange) inside and outside the country, sending it to his persons entrusted with the intention, among others, of paying for contract killings as well as making investments on their behalf in Albania and abroad", SPAK emphasizes./ CNA