The recently dismissed director of the State Police Haki Çako has been one of the people most attacked by the opposition, while at the same being one of the most protected by the Rama government.
Ever since his nomination in 2015, when former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri presented him as Director General, Haki Çako has made many changes in the structure of the State Police. Çako presented himself as a director who would be much more present in the field and wouldn’t lead the police from his office. As a result, the media started transmitting footage of Çako and other high police officials following anti-cannabis operations on the ground.
Nevertheless, during the 3 years in which Çako headed the police Albania became one of the largest cannabis producers in the world, the largest drug exporter in Europe, and serious worry for the Italian police, which has been on the front lines against Albanian drug traffickers landing on the Italian shores.
The highpoint of the opposition’s attacks on Çako were the 2017 general elections, when the LSI accused him openly of being in the pocket of the drug cartels in the country. The nickname “Haki Droga” (Druggie Haki) became one of the rallying cry of the opposition.
Just like the LSI, the PD accused Çako directly of politicizing the police, which he had put to the service of the Rama government, with the aim of influencing the elections with drug money.
Another scandal during Çako’s tenure that remains unsolved was the usage of an unregistered wiretapping device by the State Police. In June 2016, Çako was suspended from his duty by the Court of Tirana, after he was accused by the opposition of allowing the so-called IMCI Catcher to enter Albanian territory without the appropriate authorization of the Prosecution Office. A few days after this decision, Çako was reinstated by the Appeals Court as director, even though during three interrogation sessions Çako had given three conflicting accounts regarding the device.
The opposition demanded several times the immediate dismissal of Çako, but former Minister Tahiri, Prime Minister Rama, and Minister of Interior Xhafaj continued to protect him. Related to the IMCI Catcher scandal, Tahiri said in June 2016:
Haki Çako and the 2 employees [of the police] have not done any wiretapping. I give my personal support and that of the Prime Minister for the director and the 2 employees.
And just recently, Minister Xhafaj, who announced the dismissal of Çako “with the aim of better responding to the requirements of this new phase and the high expectations of the public and international partners concerning the State Police,” responded to the LSI’s request for Çako’s dismissal:
I cannot demand the dismissal of the State Police Director General because a political party is worried. If there are worries related to his execution of office based on the law, that’s another reasoning. Until today I have no such worry.
In a recent declaration, former Minister of Interior Dritan Demiraj responded to a question why he never fired Çako when he could, Demiraj responded: “I didn’t ask be I knew the Prime Minister protected him.”
