Lezhë police have arrested a 39-year-old trader who was selling luxury items without justified origin in his shop. It is suspected that prestigious brand wristwatches and gold jewelry were previously stolen in other countries and smuggled into Albania.

In coordination with the Prosecution, the coded operation “Final O’clock” was finalized, which followed lengthy investigative work by the Economic and Financial Crime Investigation Section. During the intervention, the citizen with initials A. M., resident in Lezhë, was handcuffed.

According to the official announcement, the suspect is believed to have supplied high-value goods for which legal provenance documentation was missing. Checks conducted in the jewelry shop premises led to the seizure of a large quantity of material evidence: 133 luxury brand wristwatches with no accompanying documents, gold jewelry weighing a total of approximately 3.3 kilograms not covered by purchase invoices, as well as monetary amounts of 270,500 lekë and 2,700 euros, which are thought to derive precisely from this illegal activity.

According to preliminary calculations, the seized assets reach a value of around 300,000 euros. Investigators are continuing work to fully uncover the criminal scheme and to discover whether other individuals have cooperated with the arrested person. The complete file has been forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office at the Lezhë General Jurisdiction Court for follow-up.

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The drugs, with an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars (433 million pounds, 500 million euros), were found on Friday in hidden compartments beneath false floors in three shipping containers on a property in Londonderry.

Two men aged 21 and 25, who are suspected of trying to flee from police, were arrested at the scene and charged with possession of a commercial quantity of a drug illegally imported across the border.

Police said the cocaine was smuggled into Australia through the small town of Midge Point in North Queensland on the orders of an organized crime group. The suspects, who were remanded in custody after appearing in court on Saturday, face life imprisonment if convicted.

Police said the raid on the Londonderry property was part of Operation Minjiang, which was launched in May after 40 kg of cocaine was found floating in the water near a boat ramp in Midge Point.

Six other people in Queensland and New South Wales were arrested and charged as part of the investigation launched after that discovery, police said last week.

A vessel suspected of being part of the smuggling operation has also been detained in the Solomon Islands. Despite its remoteness, Australia is a lucrative market for the drug trade, with cocaine typically selling for about 300 Australian dollars per gram, according to an illicit drug monitoring system run by the University of New South Wales.

Australians and New Zealanders also have the highest levels of cocaine use in the world, according to last year’s UN World Drug Report.

“The alleged plot shows just how organized and determined these criminal networks are and how far they are willing to go in pursuit of profit.

The investigation into the origin of the drugs is ongoing, and we will work with our international and domestic law enforcement partners to identify the criminal syndicates and anyone else involved in facilitating this alleged drug importation attempt,” said Stephen Jay, Commander of the Australian Federal Police.

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