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From football coach to hitman/ Who is the Portuguese Ruben Saraiva who executed Nikulaj, after his parents' divorce he started having problems with the law in England
2026-03-25 20:53:46 / SPORT
Among the list of few foreign names who came to Albania as hired killers is that of the Portuguese man raised in London, Ruben Saraiva.
But who is 31-year-old Saraiva, who undertook to execute Ardian Nikulaj with 6 bullets in April 2023, after refusing the sum of 500,000 euros from Nikla's local killers?
Top Channel journalist Muhamed Veliu, with the help of Tiago Carrasco, a journalist for the Portuguese magazine Expresso, builds the profile of Ardian Nikulaj's killer.
Ruben Saraiva is the son of Clinton Saraiva, who came from Johannesburg to South Africa to play football with the U-19 team of the Portuguese team 'Académica Coimbra'.
In the city of Coimbra, when he was 20, Clinton met Milu, originally from Angola, who worked as a bartender in a bar. From their relationship in 1995, Ruben was born.
They then moved to London where they bought a house in 2004 in the South Reading area worth 150,000 pounds.
This is an exclusive photo provided by Top Channel, where Ruben Saraiva was captured when he was in elementary school in London.
A few years later, his parents divorced and at the age of 17, Ruben's first encounter with the law began. A London court sentenced him to 9 months probation in November 2013 after he admitted charges of possession with intent to sell 32 doses of heroin that were seized from him.
At the time, Ruben was living with his grandmother and had started working in a Tesco supermarket distribution warehouse. In the following years, Ruben worked as an assistant coach in London with his father Clinton, teaching children football.
But he again got into trouble with the law and was sentenced to several years for assault and knife use. After serving his sentence, he was deported from England to Portugal.
Returning to London and under unknown circumstances, he is recruited as a hired killer and arrives in Albania on 14.02.2023, where he is met at the airport by Edmond Haxhia and his ex-fiancée.
Haxhia has been accused by the Lezha prosecution of organizing the murder for blood feud purposes after a 30-year ordeal of murders between the Lekstakaj and Niklulaj tribes. Two weeks ago, shortly before prosecutor Arben Nika was to seek life imprisonment,
Saraiva addressed the court with a speech, the content of which was provided by Top Channel.
Ruben Saraiva has not spoken about the film and DNA evidence through which he was found guilty, but about the conditions in prison since his extradition from Morocco by Interpol Tirana, on December 31, 2024.
"Honorable jury. I ask you to listen not only to the facts of the case, but also to the voice of a man who has lived in complete silence for over two years within the walls of this state. The prison authorities have implemented a special protocol against me which has meant. Complete isolation from any other detainee. Prohibition of joint airing with other persons or joint activities within the prison.
"A ban on all contact with the outside world, including my family and the Portuguese consulate. I have not been able to contribute to my defense in the way that the law guarantees me. This is not a simple complaint about living conditions, it is a direct violation of my right to a fair trial ," Saraiva said.
After today's decision by the Lezha Court becomes final, Top Channel learns that his lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, will initiate the procedure for Ruben's transfer to continue serving his sentence in a prison in England or Portugal.
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