The Directorate of Professional Standards in the State Police suspended Inspector Aurel Kaziu, acting Criminal Police agent at the Kamza Police Station, from duty after the Kosovo side reported that he was arrested along with 2 others the day before, after attempting to smuggle 1 million euros undeclared from Serbia into Kosovo.
In the Top Story studio, security expert Ergys Muzhaqi said that, based on the amount of money seized, it does not point to a powerful criminal group. According to him, the tactics were weak and criminal groups have more sophisticated methods to bring large sums of money into Albania.
“Technically, there is not much information, various allusions are raised, but it remains to be seen how he will respond to the investigative body. Starting from the amount of money seized, it does not seem to me to be a very high, nor small, figure. Powerful criminal groups have more successful methods for transferring more money. One of the thoughts that arises in my mind is that it was a more modest group, but we assume that it is money obtained from crime, or drugs. The circle that engaged him in the police must also be seen. These are things that must be seen. Starting from the way he did this activity, with a spontaneous car. There may have been some information. There are countries that give us Albanians a little “discount” at the border. They do not ask what you have been or what you are. They claim that it was a random selection”, said Muzhaqi.
Criminology professor Ervin Karamuço said that one of the sources of money could be Albanians working illegally in Europe.
“The agent did not feel well. He said he would leave, he would take leave, the commander did not replace him and they were suspended from duty. A van stands out, Kosovo has a very powerful scanner on the border with Serbia. We have liberalized the border with Kosovo a lot. There are two lines. The first is of many immigrants who work illegally and bring money to Albania. They have it separated, collected and have names. The specific case does not belong to such a case. It is money that is related to a single hand. It is not separated, meaning it comes from an illegal source. There are lines that bring significant amounts of money across the borders. This is a challenge for our police, and also for Kosovo. We do not know if they would arrive in Kosovo or Albania. Money laundering then has 100 ways then ,” said Karamuço.
Meanwhile, lawyer Kreshnik Spahiu, in a live broadcast on “Top Story”, stated that the money the police were transporting was not necessarily drug proceeds, but could also come from money laundering in businesses that want to avoid taxes.
“It’s not about money laundering in Albania, but in Kosovo. The case of this cashier is more serious, especially because of the way the money was transported. I also have my own theses: usually, the transporters are not directly the owners of the money. They are paid by their owners.
In this specific case, there is a high degree of difficulty. It is not a transportation within the EU, where there is freedom of movement. In cases of bringing money into Albania, the control is stricter.
As for the Albanians, considering that they may be at the beginning of illegal activities, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the two Albanians from Kosovo are the owners of the money and have employed the Albanian employee.
One thing is certain: the money does not come from Northern Europe. It is almost impossible for it to return from Europe to Kosovo within 24 hours. It could be money circulating somewhere in the Balkans.
“It doesn’t have to be drug money. There are many entrepreneurs who avoid high taxes in the EU. It could be business money, it could be money laundering or tax evasion,” Spahiu said.