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Albania Arrests Six for Arms Trafficking

February 14, 201417:05
Six suspects, including a police officer and an employee of the Ministry of Interior, were arrested on Thursday, accused of arms trafficking between Albania and Kosovo.

During the arrest of the suspects, police sequestered four AK-47 automatic rifles, 12,780 rounds of ammunition and a number of spare parts for automatic weapons.

“The operation for their arrest was finalized outside the Kalimash tunnel, [on the highway that connects Albania with Kosovo] while the members of this criminal gangs were transporting the weapons,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

Investigators believe the ringleader of the gang was 53-year-old Fadil Sula, who was a police inspector in the Department of Migration and Border Control in the city of Kukes.

Another suspect, 52-year-old Hamdi Matja, worked in the main weapons depot of the interior ministry and is believed to have been the key supplier of ammunition for the group.

Matja is believed to have supplied the gang with over 100,000 rounds of ammunition stolen from police supplies.