SPAK has sent 11 people to the Special Court on charges of international drug trafficking to Finland. According to the official version of the Special Prosecution, the investigation uncovered a scheme of cooperation between criminal groups suspected of sending narcotics to the Finnish market and then distributing them in several cities in the Nordic country.
Request for trial in proceedings separated from the 2023 case file
The Special Prosecution announced that it has completed the preliminary investigation and has submitted to the Special Court of First Instance a request for the trial of criminal proceeding No. 147/1 of 2023, involving 11 defendants.
According to SPAK, this proceeding was separated from criminal case No. 147 of 2023, while the investigations were carried out within the framework of a Joint Investigation Team that remains active.
Joint investigation with Finnish authorities
According to the prosecution, the investigative team was established on November 21, 2023, between SPAK and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, as well as police structures in Southwest Finland and Helsinki.
The statement says that special methods were used during the investigation, including interceptions of telephone communications and covert photographic and video recordings in public places. Information and evidence were also exchanged in real time with Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation.
What SPAK alleges about the trafficking scheme
According to the investigative file, from 2022 onward, several structured criminal groups with Albanian and foreign members, led according to SPAK by Albanian citizens, trafficked considerable quantities of high-risk narcotic substances to Finland.
The list of substances mentioned by the prosecution includes marijuana, amphetamine, ecstasy tablets and cocaine. According to this version, the drugs were then sold, distributed and delivered in several cities in Finland through a network of distributors, with the aim of securing illegal profits.
Cooperation between groups and arrests also in Finland
SPAK describes cooperation between these groups and interaction with other criminal groups as a characteristic feature. This points to activity that, according to the accusation, was not limited to a single structure but operated as a network.
The prosecution adds that some members of these groups were previously arrested and convicted by Finnish courts for criminal activities linked to this case.
Investigations do not end with the 11 defendants
At this stage, SPAK says investigations into criminal proceeding No. 147 of 2023 are continuing, in cooperation with investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation and judicial police officers of the State Police.
According to the statement, the aim is to identify other possible accomplices who may have been involved in illegal activities identified during the preliminary investigation. Also cited in support of the investigation were the Office of the Nordic Countries Liaison Officer for Albania and Kosovo, as well as the “@ON” network, financed by the European Commission and led by the Italian DIA.
Sending the case to court marks the transition of the file to another stage, but the charges brought by SPAK remain to be verified in judicial proceedings.
The actual weight of the evidence, the role of each defendant and the scope of the suspected network will now be tested before the Special Court.