The ringleaders of Albania’s most ruthless gang have been arrested, spelling the dramatic downfall of a cartel that has smuggled billions of pounds worth of cocaine from Latin America into Europe.
Led by drug lords Franc Çopja, 33, and Ervis Cela, 41, the Cela-Çopja clan was one of the most powerful Albanian organisations in the international cocaine trade with the capacity to directly influence the price of the drug in the EU.
The cartel’s huge profits were then laundered into swathes of luxury real estate in Albania and abroad, including a five-star tourist resort, villas and apartments.
But Albania’s most-feared gang saw its operation come crashing down with masterminds Çopja and Cela arrested alongside their deputies and its assets seized by SPAK: Albania’s Special Structure against Corruption and Organised Crime.
In a large-scale operation in March 2021, French, Belgium and Dutch investigators infiltrated servers belonging to Sky ECC – the world’s largest cryptophone network.
There, police acquired an estimated 1.7 billion messages between June 2019 and March 2021 that led to the arrests of hundreds of alleged drug traffickers across Europe.
Cela, who was wanted in Italy for torturing and murdering a rival Albanian pimp, was arrested alongside two of his brothers and eight other conspirators in a series of lightning raids in June and August, The Telegraph reported.
Meanwhile, Çopja was arrested in Belgium in December 2023 and is on trial for murder after being extradited from his million-dollar villa in Dubai.
Franc Çopja, 33, was arrested in Belgium in 2023 after being extradited from his mansion in Dubai
Zollfahndungsamt Hamburg (the Customs Investigation Office) shows a detail of cocaine, found in over 1,700 tins of wall filler, after German authorities seized more than 16 tonnes of cocaine in the northern port city of Hamburg, Germany, February 24, 2020
Ervis Cela, 41, was arrested in Qeparo, Himara, by the Directorate of the Special Operational Force in the State Police
His drug operations were so vast that his decisions often dictated the price of cocaine across Europe.
Copja is thought to be the logistical brain behind the crime syndicate, importing massive quantities of the drug from South America and transferring it through ports in northern Europe.
‘This criminal organisation can be considered one of the most powerful Albanian organisations in the international cocaine trade,’ Altin Dumani and Vladimir Mara, prosecutors, said in a joint statement.
‘It had the capacity to directly influence the price of cocaine in European markets and to manage large quantities of the narcotic substance in short periods of time,’ they added.
The powerful criminal network is understood to have controlled the entire chain of cocaine trafficking – from production in Paraguay, to distribution in Europe, and finally to the laundering of illegal assets through real estate investments in Albania and elsewhere.
According to a 282-page-long indictment issued on August 8 by SPAK, the cartel is accused of attempting to traffic 28 tons of cocaine from Paraguay to Antwerp and Hamburg between 2020 and 2021.
The drugs were hidden in soap crates, paint cans and industrial glue as they illicitly entered European ports.
In November 2020, the gang successfully transported some 11.6 tons of cocaine worth £1.3 billion to Antwerp. Meanwhile, in February 2021, some 16.4 tons of the drug worth £3 billion stashed in 1,700 tins of wall putty was seized in the port of Hamburg.
An undated handout photo from Zollfahndungsamt Hamburg, made available on February 24, 2021, shows cocaine found in over 1,700 tins of wall filler after German authorities seized more than 16 tonnes of cocaine in the northern port city of Hamburg
According to a 282-page-long indictment issued on Aug 8 by SPAK, the cartel is accused of attempting to traffic 28 tons of cocaine from Paraguay to Antwerp and Hamburg between 2020 and 2021
A share of the gang’s cocaine is believed to have been trafficked across the English Channel to the UK
A share of the gang’s cocaine is believed to have been trafficked across the English Channel to the UK where, according to the National Crime Agency, about 117 tonnes are consumed annually.
Albanian-speaking criminal gangs control a sizeable portion of the market here – and consumption is growing, having increased by 7% from 2023 to 2024 according to the Home Office’s analysis of wastewater.
The cartel developed an informal but sophisticated money transfer system known as ‘hawala’ to transport illicit proceeds from Europe to Albania, involving international bus drivers.
It is understood that Cela orchestrated the operation while on the run from authorities in Paraguay.
Some 14 assets worth several million euros have been seized by SPAK, reported Alfa Press, including the luxury ‘Ajman Park’ resort in Shijak – a town 27 kilometres west of the capital Tirana.
Sky ECC, an encrypted messaging service that led to the detection of the Cela-Çopja clan’s alleged crimes, has been used for drug trafficking, money laundering, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material, according to Europol.
It was officially shut down in March 2021, but hundreds of millions of encrypted messages remain available and continue to be examined as part of criminal investigations across the EU.
In a communication from December 2020 between the ringleaders, Cela divulges his plans to bury his euros in Albania under the roots of olive trees.
Some 14 assets worth several million euros have been seized by SPAK, reported Alfa Press, including the luxury ‘Ajman Park’ resort in Shijak, a town 27 kilometres west of the capital Tirana
In response, Çopja suggests he converts the notes into gold bullion because the money might otherwise rot and be destroyed underground.
Cela replied: ‘There’s no gold… I have to rob a bank… I have to order it from Africa.’
Çopja said: ‘I know somebody who can procure it [the gold] for us.’
‘Ask him, whatever he has, 100/200 kilos,’ replied Cela.
Cela was on the run from authorities for some 11 years before he was arrested in the village of Qeparo on the southern coast of Albania on June 29.
He had previously been convicted in Italy of murdering Petrit Keci in September 2008 alongside his brother Ardian and accomplice Hiseni Fatos.
The trio was convicted of physically attacking Keci and shooting him six times in the head before burning his body in an attempt to conceal the evidence of the crime.
Cela was sentenced to 30 years in prison, while his brother received 18 years.
The powerful criminal network is understood to have controlled the entire chain of cocaine trafficking – from production in Paraguay, to distribution in Europe, and finally to the laundering of illegal assets through real estate investments in Albania and elsewhere
The duo were able to appeal the sentence, however, and were held in pre-trial detention.
They were re-convicted, but not before the time limit on their detention expired in May 2014, allowing them to flee abroad.
On top of any convictions he receives in relation to drug trafficking, Cela will now have to spend 21 years behind bars for murder, kidnapping, attempted hiding of a corpse, threats, illegal possession of explosives and ammunition as well as obstruction of justice.
