Killing of officer Enea Mekolli in Korçë / Police chief Vilson Bala’s testimony on the plan to arrest Braçellari revealed

Korçë Police Director Vilson Bala, along with the two deputy directors, has testified to the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the operational plan for the arrest of Violant Braçellari, during which police officer Enea Mekolli lost his life.

According to his statement, Bala claims he was contacted by phone by the chief of the Maliq Police Station regarding a complaint filed by a shepherd over unpaid money by Violant Braçellari.

Bala: I was contacted by phone by the chief of the Maliq Police Station, Eduart Allushi, who informed me about an incident that had occurred and explained that a citizen named Aleksandër Kolak had worked as a shepherd, had not received the money owed to him for the work he had done, and had been threatened with a firearm by citizen Violant Braçellari, who is a wanted person. I contacted the deputy director of Crime by phone and they met at the Korçë Police premises. They discussed the measures they would take regarding the organization of the operation to capture the wanted person, who had been sentenced to around 10 years in prison for the criminal offense of “Production and sale of narcotic substances.”

According to the Korçë Police Director, after the plan was discussed, officers moved into the area the following day.

Bala: One group, which included the two deputy directors, the chief of the Maliq Police Station and a group from the Shqiponjat unit, would go to the place where there was information about the wanted person, via the Maliq-Lozhan-Bode road axis. The other group, which included himself, the chief of the Public Order Sector and the chief of the Police Station, would go to the place where the wanted person was suspected to be, via the Korçë-Voskopojë-Bode road axis.

As soon as the officers approached the mountain hut, the first gunshots were immediately heard.

Bala: When they were at the stream, at a distance of about 400-500 meters, they heard automatic gunfire and ran in the direction of the mountain hut. When they arrived at the scene, they learned that one police officer had died and another police officer had been wounded.

According to the Korçë Police Director, calling in RENEA was not considered for Braçellari’s arrest because the wanted man was being sought for drug offenses and not for crimes against the person. In the analysis of this citizen’s previous actions, there was no data indicating that he had used firearms against police officers, including during previous searches carried out by the police.