Five arrested in Kosovo for drug trafficking and money laundering

2026-06-09 22:07:54, Kosova & Bota CNA

Five people have been arrested in Kosovo on suspicion of involvement in an organized crime network that is suspected of trafficking drugs to several European countries and laundering millions of euros derived from criminal activities.

The arrests were made on Tuesday as part of the international "White Star" operation, following a three-year investigation supported by Europol - the European Union's law enforcement agency - and authorities in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

According to Europol, the investigation was built primarily on the analysis of communications exchanged on the encrypted SKY ECC platform, widely used by criminal groups in Europe.

The decrypted messages enabled investigators to identify key members of the organization, trace financial flows, and uncover the criminal network's modus operandi.

In a joint statement, the Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police said that the action took place in Pristina, Peja, Prizren, Viti and Drenas, by order of the Basic Court.

During the searches, authorities seized six guns, 239 cartridges, approximately 9.7 grams of cocaine, over 35 grams of marijuana seeds, 25 mobile phones, 10 computers, 10 vehicles, a motorcycle, 16 wristwatches and 7,595 euros in cash.

According to Europol, the criminal group operated from Kosovo, while its members coordinated international drug trafficking and managed the laundering of illegal profits in several European countries.

Europol said that since the beginning of the investigation, 42 people have been investigated, 76 checks have been carried out and assets with an estimated value of around 80 million euros have been seized.

Operation "White Star" is among the latest cases in the region to rely on data provided by the SKY ECC platform, whose communications were decrypted by European authorities in 2021.

Materials obtained from this platform have prompted hundreds of investigations into drug trafficking, money laundering, and corruption in several European countries.

Even in Albania, SKY ECC data has served as the basis for a series of operations by the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), leading to the arrest or investigation of well-known figures of the criminal world, public officials, police officers and other persons suspected of links to criminal groups.

Europol said the operation was carried out within the framework of the Operational Task Force LIMIT, which targets criminal groups that have used encrypted communications to coordinate their activities, while an expert from the agency was present in Kosovo during the day of the action to support the exchange of information in real time./REL