FLASH NEWS
27 Albanians are arrested in Spain for drugs, two were kept as labor slaves
2024-07-18 19:17:28 / AKTUALITET
Captured and tricked in Albania, brought to Barcelona and from there dispersed throughout Catalonia to be used as slaves on marijuana plantations. The Spanish National Police has managed to free two people who were held in two cannabis farms in Castellbisbal and Molins de Rei. Both were of Albanian nationality, as police sources explained to ElCaso.com, and had been brought from their country of origin through broken promises by compatriots, who would later discover that they belonged to a large organization located in the areas coast of Catalonia. For all this, 28 arrests have been made, all Albanians and one of Spanish nationality who served as a regional leader. They are accused of crimes of human trafficking.
The investigation has been long and began in February 2023, when agents found and controlled two marijuana plantations located in industrial warehouses in the cities of Castellbisbal and Molins de Rei in Barcelona. It was then that the Albanians deceived and forced into a regime of semi-slavery in the marijuana plantations through the Barcelona-El Prat airport were released. Immediately after an operation that lasted more than a year, as explained by police sources, 28 people of Albanian nationality and one Spaniard were arrested, and the National Police discovered that the sale of drug trafficking was mainly carried out in Calafell. Four of the arrested have been imprisoned.
The National Police has seized 13,218 marijuana plants and 1 kg 308.79 grams of hashish. Also, it is calculated that the electrical fraud amounts to 1,950,000 euros. During the operation, two long guns, a short gun and a 9mm cartridge were found and seized along with 35,320 euros in cash and a total of eight false identity documents.
But how did they recruit their compatriots in Albania and under what conditions did they live in the fields?
The Albanian mafia was perfectly structured with very defined roles, although one of the leaders was of Spanish nationality and dealt with the location of the industrial warehouse, the management of rents and the purchase of all the material needed for the plantation. However, the great Albanian leaders were the ones who gave the orders and instigated a branch of the organization to recruit compatriots in Albania to spend the necessary 24 hours tending and monitoring the crops of Castellbisbal and Molins de Rei. Although these gardeners, at the same time, were stripped of all their belongings and periodically observed.
Although to the point of being kept almost as slaves in the Catalan marijuana plantations, they were first tricked before leaving Albania. One of the victims, as clarified by police sources, stated that he was locked up and that he was deceived in his country of origin by a compatriot who promised him a job in Spain in a car wash. The man agreed, as his wife and son depended on him financially. So they bought him a plane ticket and immediately after landing, they took him to the farm, where they took his things, including his passport and mobile phone, threatening to harm the family if he didn't do what they were told.
The man was confined to the plantation for three months, tending to the plants and acting as a guard, while at the same time he was monitored and had a phone with a single registered number. The National Police rescued him, in the same way they later rescued another Albanian citizen, although they deceived him by telling him that growing marijuana was a legal activity in Spain. But, in case he was suspected at any moment, they took all his belongings, including his passport. The two victims lived alone for several months in different industrial warehouses in Castellbisbal and Molins de Rei, without being able to go outside, without light or natural ventilation and eating only what was occasionally provided to them by a member of the Albanian mafia in Catalonia.
Although, as police sources have explained to ElCaso.com, the members of the disbanded organization were the same ones in charge of recruiting Albanians to smuggle them in and enslave them, this mafia had ties to other dedicated organizations for the promotion of mass immigration of Albanian citizens. So much so that one of the main leaders of the organization was sentenced in 2002 to 25 years in prison in Albania for illegal crossing and assistance of state borders, and the already dismantled gang in Catalonia was related to another previously investigated by the Office of the General Commissioner of Immigration and Borders of the National Police, in which a total of 123 people were detained for mass favoring of illegal immigration.
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