Rich tycoon named as boss of Albanian Cartel

Police revealed the alleged boss of an big Albanian narco cartel as successful businessman Bashkim Osmani, a real estate tycoon born in Yugoslavia who became rich in Germany and re-settled in luxury on a Mediterranean island.

The Mob Reporter here with details of a large police probe that spanned seven countries and brought 45 arrests, declared as the dismantling of an agile and active cartel that controlled its own supply line of coke arriving in Europe from South America.

The main target, police said, was Bashkim Osmani, who was arrested in Croatia and extradited to Mallorca, a Spanish island, where he owns luxury restaurants, hotel and an impressive mansion that was exhausting for police to search. Investigators called it an important case targeting a well-heeled Balkan cartel. Osmani maintains his innocence and none of the allegations have yet been tested in court.

The theory of police is that an Albanian-speaking cartel imported large loads from South America into Europe, arriving by sea in shipping containers at ports in Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany. It was moved far and wide by roads and by air — using cargo planes and, a sign of its financial resources, by private jets.

The probe, focussed in Spain and Belgium, was aided by the law enforcement breach of the Sky ECC encrypted phone service, a communications app narcos thought was super-secret. Authorities were able to read and track messages sent around the world: Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay and track suspects flying back and forth to Dubai, Mexico, and Colombia.

More than 100 coordinated police raids were launched in seven countries on Feb. 15, 2022, including Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Croatia. It was helped by the FBI in America and the NCA in Britain.

The Osmani family has been the focus of attention for years as businessmen who created a financial empire in Hamburg, Germany, after emigrating from what was then Yugoslavia, including substantial real estate holdings and more than a dozen nightclubs, including a landmark waterfront pub that was particularly popular. The eldest brother, Qazim Osmani, is known by the nickname as Felix and runs casinos in Europe.

Police analysts say the probe unmasks the face of the modern underworld, moving away from clan-based gangs to cooperative ventures — homogenized, transnational criminal groups reaching further, moving faster, and working more cooperatively than ever before.

Albania - MR.