In today’s issue, national newspaper Panorama claims that “opposition leader Lulzim Basha and his close relatives are being surveilled by officers of the Operational Police”:
Trusted sources confirmed to Panorama that every move of the PD leader, Lulzim Basha, and his close family is monitored 24 hours a day by certain segments of the Special Operations Unit of the State Police.
The surveillance on the Basha family started immediately after the opposition published a secret recording of Minister of Interior’s brother.
Referring to a source within the State Police, Panorama claims that the surveillance of the opposition leader is a clandestine operation, although the source did not disclose who authorized it. The surveillance would have started after Basha published incriminating information concerning Agron Xhafaj, Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj’s brother.
Given the political importance of the target, it is reasonable to speculate that the decision has indeed been taken at the highest level of the State Police and the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
It is a public fact that the General Director of the State Police, Ardian Veliu, is a protégé of Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj. It was Xhafaj who promoted Veliu, through a hasty and controversial procedure, to the required police rank that allowed Xhafaj to appoint him General Director of the State Police last February.
If true, the surveillance operation on Basha is a serious political scandal that undermines the rule of law and the democratic process. Use of State Police for political purposes, including spying on government’s opponents, is unconstitutional and criminal.
It further tarnishes the image and credibility of the State Police, which during the last few years has been involved in several scandals of aiding and abetting criminals and drug traffickers.
This new scandal could bring new political troubles for Prime Minister Rama and Minister of Interior Xhafaj.
For the past three weeks, the opposition, led by the Democratic Party (PD), has demanded from Rama to fire Xhafaj, who is being accused of protecting his younger brother, Agron Xhafaj, a convicted criminal sentenced by Italian courts to more than 7 years in prison, for drug trafficking in late 1990s and early 2000s. However, Agron Xhafaj escaped Italy before he could be imprisoned, moving to Albania where he has lived in comfort since at least 2003.
Three weeks ago, the opposition revealed the final ruling of the Italian Supreme Court, convicting Agron Xhafaj as a member of a structured criminal organization operating in Albania, Italy, Poland, and the USA.
The opposition also accused Agron Xhafaj of continuing his drug trafficking activity from Albania, in particular since his brother Fatmir Xhafaj became Minister of Interior Affairs in March 2017. The Democratic Party published a secret recording made by investigation journalist Jetmir Olldashi, in which someone, allegedly Agron Xhafaj, is heard discussing a drug shipment with one of his former criminal collaborators.
Following the publication of the recording and his Italian conviction, Agron Xhafaj immediately left Albania, even though the prosecutors started a criminal investigation into his alleged drug trafficking activity. In a public letter, Agron Xhafaj stated that he was voluntarily returning to Italy to serve his drug trafficking sentence. However, no official information regarding his whereabouts has been made available, and no one can confirm whether he indeed surrendered to the Italian authorities or simply escaped to another country.
Now his brother, Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj, is being accused of launching a political spy operation on the leader of the opposition as a revenge for exposing Agron Xhafaj’s criminal past and activities.
