FLASH NEWS
2026-07-28 10:47:00 / AKTUALITET
Ilir Shtufi, one of the well-known construction businessmen in Tirana with his company "Nova Construction", is expected to be extradited soon from Greece, where he has been arrested on behalf of the Special Prosecution Office and is being held in custody.
As part of a broad investigation into international drug trafficking and the laundering of the proceeds of crime, law enforcement authorities have documented the activities of a criminal network that is suspected of operating in several countries in Europe and Latin America.
This is about a group that produced and trafficked cocaine from Latin American countries to Europe and laundered the money gained from criminal activity in Albania through connections with construction businessmen.
One of them is Ilir Shtufi. On June 12, 2026, the General Directorate of the State Police in cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation executed several security measures, while the "Nova Construction" businessman was arrested in Greece.
The Thessaloniki letter of credit and Ilir Shtufi's blunder
The Ministry of Justice is reported to have made the official translation into Greek of the file sent by SPAK, regarding the criminal facts against Ilir Shtufi, and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has sent it to the authorities in Thessaloniki.
The businessman is accused of the criminal offense of "Laundering the proceeds of crime" committed in the form of special collaboration with a structured criminal group, and SPAK has imposed the security measure "Arrest in prison" on him in absentia.
The file will be sent to the Appeals Prosecutor's Office in Thessaloniki and then to the Extradition Court, where it is expected to decide whether the request for Ilir Shtufi's extradition to Albania will be accepted or rejected. The businessman does not agree to be tried in our country.
He has hired two lawyers and is seeking the rejection of the extradition request, refusing to face Albanian justice.
This decision by Ilir Shtufi is unclear, as he previously collaborated with agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, a fact that led to his immediate arrest in Thessaloniki. He had left for Greece on the day the operation was taking place in Tirana.
His friend's daughter was celebrating her birthday and the "Nova" businessman was invited among many other attendees. But as he was preparing for the party, the BKH and the State Police knocked on his house in Tirana. According to the file, only Shtufi's wife was at home.
She informed the agents that Ilir was in Thessaloniki and when they asked her to call him on camera, she answered immediately. And so it happened. The wife called Ilir Shtufi and through the video call, he spoke to the agents himself.
They asked him to prove his whereabouts by sending a "location" and as soon as the businessman did so, National Bureau of Investigation agents left his home and notified their counterparts in Greece.
Within minutes of the video call, Ilir Shtufi was handcuffed at the hotel he was staying at, according to the location he sent to agents. This blunder led to his handcuffing and now, as the 40-day deadline draws to a close, the Nova businessman is expected to be extradited.
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