Eleven Undocumented Migrants Risked Drowning Near Sazan, Afghan Organizer Arrested and Search Underway for Albanian Accomplice

The incident reported a day earlier near Sazan Island, in which a dinghy carrying 11 undocumented migrants from third countries was at risk of sinking in open waters, has been fully solved by the Vlora Local Directorate for Border and Migration (DVKM). The organizer of the failed attempt to traffic them to Italy, who was also travelling on the vessel, has been identified and arrested.

The detainee is Afghan national M. E., 43. He has been charged with the criminal offence of “Assisting Illegal Border Crossings.” The other 10 people rescued from the dinghy, nationals of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Liberia and Haiti, are also being prosecuted for “Illegal Crossing of the State Border.”

Crime Investigation specialists at the Vlora DVKM, in coordination with the Prosecutor’s Office, documented the route taken and the operating method of the trafficking network through swift and professional actions.

The plan began in Greece, where the 43-year-old Afghan had organized the illegal crossing of the 10 migrants into Albanian territory via the green border.

After their arrival in Albania, the Afghan national collaborated with an Albanian whose identity has not yet been established. The Albanian accomplice sent him a coordinate on his phone, specifically a location in the Seman area of Fier.

The Afghan then went to Seman and took the dinghy that the Albanian national had made available to him. He boarded the 10 undocumented migrants with the intention of setting off for the Italian coast. The journey was interrupted near Sazan after those on board faced the risk of drowning.

Under the direction of the Prosecutor’s Office, Border Police and Vlora’s investigative structures are continuing intensive investigations, using special methods, to locate the Albanian national who provided the vessel. At the same time, authorities are checking whether other people were involved in this undocumented migrant smuggling cell, while Albania was being used as a transit bridge to European Union countries.