Madrid, (EFE).- The Civil Guard, in collaboration with Europol, has dismantled this week the so-called Farruku clan, a criminal organization for drug trafficking made up of Albanian citizens who is credited with attempting to introduce ten tons of cocaine and as many hashish in various European ports, including Algeciras, in Cádiz.
As reported by the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, the operation, carried out this Tuesday, resulted in 21 house searches in the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona and Toledo. Also with the arrest of 17 people, among them the main members of the organization, and the summons as investigated of 20 more people.
Those arrested testify this Friday before the head of the investigation court number four of Algeciras, sources of the investigation have indicated to EFE.
During the course of the investigation, numerous drug seizures in different European countries have been attributed to the organization. Adding almost 10,000 kilos of cocaine in different ports. Among them, two tons seized in 2022 in Algeciras and 10,000 kilos of hashish seized in Portugal.
With this large amount of hashish, the Farruku clan intended to make an exchange, with the aim of replacing each kilo of hashish from Morocco with a kilo of cocaine in South America. Thus, two organizations mutually take advantage of the low price of each product at source (hashish in Europe and cocaine in South America) and the high sales price at destination.
So far, 25 vehicles and 22 real estate properties have been seized with an approximate value of more than 4,200,000 euros. As well as the blocking of the accounts/products of 14 individuals and 30 companies.
Algeciras: Two tons of cocaine between frozen hake
The operation began in September 2021 when the agents detected a group of people who were preparing to introduce a large amount of cocaine hidden in a container through the Port of Algeciras.
In January 2022, two tons of cocaine were seized in this port hidden in a container from Guayaquil (Ecuador), which was transporting frozen hake.
From that moment on, the investigators have carried out laborious work in which they have discovered that the organization is responsible for other attempts to introduce large quantities of cocaine seized by police forces in the last two years in ports of Italy, Belgium, Greece , Portugal, the Netherlands or Spain.
During this period, 39 people have been arrested in different countries, in addition to the 17 in Spain.
The Farruku, a family clan based in Madrid and Malaga
The Civil Guard portrays the Farruku clan as a criminal organization made up mainly of people of Albanian origin. Most of them have family ties and have been settled in Spain for several years, mainly in Madrid and the Costa del Sol.
They have different false passports, especially Italian and Greek, which provided them with numerous fictitious identities that made the investigation work difficult.
Some of its members, all with numerous criminal records, were responsible for the violent assault suffered by businessman José Luis Moreno at his home in 2007.
The leader, on the run, has more than 10 false identities
Its leader, Kreshnik Budlla, alias “Niko”, has several criminal charges and is currently on the run from justice. He has been detected more than ten false identities.
Through this investigation it has been detected how he even posed as a Police Inspector from his native country. With research powers throughout the European Union. Said card and police badge, it has been possible to intervene in the search made at his home in Madrid.
Likewise, during the operation, photographs have been accessed in which Kreshnik Budilla used Civil Guard uniforms when traveling by vehicle within Spanish territory. In this way, he avoided being identified and later detained by the international indictments against him.
A powerful network of allies, including the Calabrian mafia
The main strength of the organization was the great logistical capacity they had to carry out these operations around the world.
In the case of Spain, they had an infrastructure made up of Spaniards. Some of them businessmen or liberal professions, who gave them cover and support to facilitate the introduction of drugs in Spain.
This support ranged from the rental of vehicles and ships to hide the drugs, to the creation and use of companies to facilitate the importation of legal merchandise where the drugs were hidden.
All this was possible thanks to an important network of contacts and collaborations with other criminal organizations. During the investigation, the agents have confirmed meetings between the main leaders of the clan and important members of the Calabrian mafia.
However, these alliances have not always reported positive results. When the two tons of cocaine were seized in Algeciras, a member of this Albanian clan, Ergys Dashi, was killed the next day. The authors, two individuals who shot him while he was having dinner in a restaurant in Guayaquil, the city from where he left the drug merchandise.
According to the information obtained, this fact is directly related to the loss of the drug in Algeciras. Ergys Dashi acted as an intermediary between European criminal organizations and drug lords in Latin America.
The investigation has been carried out by the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police (UOPJ) of the Algeciras Command. Supported in the operation by its Citizen Security Unit (USECIC) and Services Core.
The device has had the participation of more than 250 agents from different units of the Civil Guard. EFE