Journalist Artan Hoxha has revealed the revenue figures from criminal groups.
Speaking to journalist Blendi Fevziut, Hoxha brought as an example a group from Elbasan, known at that time as the “Dubai Group”.
He stated that this was the first Albanian group to cross the $1 billion mark, and at the time it was hit by the authorities, it had reached over $3 billion in profits.
“The first Albanian group to exceed $1 billion. And at the moment it was hit, it had exceeded $3 billion,” declared Artan Hoxha.
Although the journalist did not say it, it is about the group led by Franc Çopja, now extradited to Belgium for the murder of Arjan Spahiu and Hajdar Çopja, a resident of Dubai.
According to the journalist, the financial size of the group had also attracted the attention of the Belgian authorities, who had made great efforts to capture the person associated with it. Hoxha indicated that the information provided by foreign authorities also speaks of the purchase of a ton of gold, in bars and coins, wealth that is suspected to have been brought into Albania.
“At the moment it was struck, the Belgian authorities have left no stone unturned to definitely capture that person. And we are dealing with a group that, at least from the information that has been provided by foreign authorities, and they are looking for it… as you said about the treasure, it was the treasure of the Medellin Cartel, because it has not been found yet. But at least, he bought 1 ton of gold, in ingots and coins, which is thought to be wealth that could have been brought into Albania. The rest was then bought, a diamond cutting machine was bought, but the diamonds and other reserves were not found. And the rest, the other investment that he has made is, apart from Albania, because Albania is a, how should I say, a small market”, declared Hoxha.
Hoxha went on to say that Albania was too small a market for the financial size such a group had achieved. According to him, a significant portion of the money was directed towards Dubai, particularly in the real estate and construction sectors.
“It’s a very small market for that kind of investor. But in Dubai, in November, in October 2022, he had an investment of $260 million in real estate and construction,” Hoxha said.
The journalist also indicated that the group had caught the attention of the authorities due to the speed with which it had created wealth and the large amounts of money it had managed to generate.
“This was the group that stood out the most because it became rich very quickly and spent a lot of money,” Hoxha declared.