Belgian authorities have carried out a major operation against an Albanian group suspected of international cocaine trafficking.
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Eight people have been arrested, while four others have been placed under house arrest. Among those detained is 52-year-old Gerd Gjinarari, known by the nickname “The General.”
The investigation began around a year ago, when Belgian police received information that an apartment in Berchem, Antwerp, might be used to conceal large quantities of cocaine.
Investigators focused on a 48-year-old man suspected of acting as an intermediary between Albanian criminal groups and Latin American networks.
According to the authorities, the 48-year-old organized the transport of the drugs, the removal of shipments from the Port of Antwerp, and their distribution.
He is also suspected of finding the people needed to carry out the trafficking, including security personnel, and of directing the groups that collected the cocaine shipments at the port.
During earlier stages of the investigation, police seized two cocaine shipments weighing 46 and 53 kilograms. In the latest searches, carried out in Berchem, Deurne, Kapellen and various areas of Brussels, hidden weapons and ammunition, bulletproof vests, signal-jamming devices, cash and money-counting machines were discovered.
Among the seized materials were forged passports and press cards. Investigators also found presses and molds that were allegedly used to shape cocaine blocks.
Gerd Gjinarari, 52, known as “The General,” had previously been identified by the Belgian authorities. In June, he was arrested by the Federal Police FAST team after the Italian authorities had issued an international wanted notice for him over a murder committed in 1997. The circumstances of his release following that arrest have not yet been disclosed.
Several months after his first arrest, Gjinarari has been detained again, this time as part of the Belgian investigation into international cocaine trafficking.
Italian authorities suspect that in 1997 he killed a rival in a hospital in Milan, using a pistol hidden in a bouquet of flowers. At the time of his June arrest, proceedings for his extradition to Italy were still underway. Now, in addition to the Italian case, he also faces a new investigation in Belgium related to suspicions of cocaine trafficking.
