Police arrest two Rinas border police officers, part of human trafficking ring
Story Highlights
- The action that took place over Friday night and the early hours of Saturday morning is the second part of an operation that started in March of this year, leading to the arrest of 39 people.
Related Articles
TIRANA, Sept. 30 - Two border police officers at the Mother Teresa Airport were arrested on Saturday, while authorities also issued arrest warrants for five Macedonian citizens and another Albanian employee of an airport security company during the operation against a group that was dealing with illegal trafficking of persons to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The action that took place over Friday night and the early hours of Saturday morning is the second part of an operation that started in March of this year, leading to the arrest of 39 people.
The operation was conducted in cooperation among the State Police, Serious Crimes Prosecution and US partners, who said 12 Albanian and international citizens are now wanted.
“Meanwhile, following the investigation, it been made possible to identify and then arrest, on September 28, 2018 as associates in this structured criminal group, two police officers with border control duties and a security agent,” the police statement clarified.
Investigations into this case have shown that seven structured criminal groups operating in Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, France, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the United Kingdom, the US, Canada have enabled the smuggling of over 300 Albanian citizens towards countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
“For each person, 7,000 pounds were paid for the United Kingdom and 25,000 to 30,000 dollars for the US and Canada. Members of these criminal groups through active actions assisted Albanian citizens interested in illegally immigrating to the above-mentioned countries by falsifying travel documents and IDs of EU countries,” the statement concluded.
