Suspected drug lord caught in honeytrap
ONE of Albania’s most-wanted drug trafficking suspects has been snared at a London cafe in an elaborate social media honeytrap.
Elton Hamza, 37, is alleged to be a top player in a growing trade of drugs from Albania trafficked across Europe and into Britain.
The gangs have direct links to Colombian cocaine producers and work with the Italian mafia.
Many are choosing the UK as a bolthole and at least 12 Albanians wanted in Italy have been arrested here.
Five more arrested here on European Arrest
Warrants are wanted in Germany, Greece and
France.
Italian anti-mafia agents want to question
Hamza about a network of smugglers who are trafficking cocaine from
Albania to Italy in speedboats and laundering millions in proceeds.
He had evaded several attempts to arrest him in Albania and Italy since July, before being lured to London.
An Albanian source said: “Hamza, was a regular user of social media.
“They [Italian agents] created a false profile of a beautiful girl who asked for the meeting in a cafe in London. However, when he went he did not find the beautiful girl.”
Albanian media reports said after several weeks of communication, the “woman” had suggested they meet for coffee at a cafe near Heathrow.
But when Hamza arrived, he was greeted by British police, Interpol and
Italian anti-mafia agents and is currently awaiting extradition to Italy.
Italian prosecutors say a gang has been under investigation for five years and 27 Albanians and 10 Italians have been arrested since summer.
Cocaine and cannabis worth €40million has been seized.
In an unrelated case, Albanian Gerhard Mujka, 35, was arrested in London this year after Italian investigators monitored his and his sister’s social media.
Italian news media said his Whatsapp profile picture had an English city as its background.
Agents monitored the Facebook account of his sister for several weeks and alerted British police when she entered a post about a visit to London, which led them to Mujka.
He has been remanded before an extradition hearing next month.
A National Crime Agency spokeswoman said: “We are actively involved in a number of arrests of foreign nationals.”
She said over a recent 12-month period: “Our UK International Crime Bureau supported 1,068 arrests in the UK and 974 arrests overseas.
“The UKICB works with partners to locate suspected foreign national offenders in the UK and extradite them as well as to locate fugitives overseas.”
LURED: Elton Hamza