Angela _________
> In Der Spiegel
> Bonn, 8 August, 1999 -
>
> "Ethnic Albanians" (as the German police officially calls them), no
> matter where
> they come from - Albania, Macedonia or Kosovo - created for a very
short
> time in
> the last decade of the century, a very powerful criminal network,
says
> Manfred
> Quedzuweit, director of the Police Department for Fighting the
Organized
> Crime in
> Hamburg. Here, it could be heard that they are even more dangerous
than
> Cosa
> Nostra.
>
> The network is spreading from the Balkans over the eastern Europe,
> becomes very
> dense in Greece and Italy, more dense in Switzerland and Germany,
and
> stretches
> even to Scandinavia. Some branches of this criminal Albanian
network even
> reach
> Spain, Portugal and the Great Britain, and even more - the United
States.
>
> It has never happened in the history that such a small ethnic group
shows
> so much
> criminal energy in such a short time, the Spiegel comments.
>
> In the last couple of years, the Albanians literally invaded the
West as
> they found
> the best place for their illegal business there. In the Great
Britain,
> for example,
> there were only 30 Albanians living there ten years ago. Now, there
are
> over 30,000
> Albanians living in Britain, a thousand times more!
>
> There are about 400,000 Albanians in Germany, 200,000 in
Switzerland,
> 100,000 in
> Italy and even 25,000 in small Belgium.
>
> Tribal, patriarchal establishment among the Albanians is one of the
most
> important
> factors of successful creating the network of the criminal clans.
> Everybody knows
> everybody, everyone is controlled where he goes and what he does.
Nobody
> can
> escape the long hand of Mafia, says Manfred Quedzuweit.
>
> The members of the family form the core of a clan (in this case
about 60
> members
> of the Albanian family), writes the Spiegel. The average of another
150
> relatives are
> tied to them, as well as their neighbours and friends, sometimes a
whole
> village is
> a clan. Such a system is ideal for introducing into an organized
criminal
> network,
> writes the Hamburg weekly.
>
> The ethnologist of the University in Berlin Stephanie
Schwandner-Sievers
> says
> those are the relics of an archaic tribal society, which she and
her
> colleagues call
> "immoral familiarity".
>
> In Germany, the Albanians have completely took over the market of
heroin
> as they
> banished, in a spectacular fight five years ago, the Turks and
Kurds. For
> a short
> time, says Manfred Quedzuweit, they covered the market of
prostitution
> where they
> launch young Albanian girls of 16 and 17 years.
>
> "Washing" of illegal money, armed robberies and stealing of jewelry
and
> money
> from private houses, and organized transportation of white slaves
and
> desperate
> ones who seek their chance for life in the West, is only a part in
their
> long list of
> illegal businesses in Germany.
>
> Albanian "banks" in Germany are a special story. They are used for
the
> transfer of
> money from Germany which amounts to a billion of D-marks a year.
One of
> these
> banks was discovered by accident by the Dusseldorf police when they
were
> checking a travel agency "Eulinda" owned by the Albanians.
>
> We haven't found a single catalogue or brochure for travelling at
the
> agency,
> computers were not operating, nor the printer has been ever used.
We
> found that
> "Eulinda" was a coverup for some other business, said high criminal
> counselor from
> Dusseldorf Rainer Bruckert.
>
> Eventually we found out that "Eulinda" had already transferred 150
> million dollars to
> Kosovo - for "humanitarian purposes", says Bruckert. Money has been
> transferred
> by the couriers in special waist belts with many pockets. So, in a
single
> one way
> trip, they can carry up to six million D-marks. We have proofs,
says
> Bruckert, that
> the money has been transferred under the cover of political parties
and
> humanitarian aid and through fictitious companies, to Kosovo for
the
> purpose of
> financing the war which KLA is conducting there.
>
> Police has lots of difficulties to catch any of those criminals and
put
> them in jail,
> mostly because people are scared too much to testify, fearing for
their
> own lives
> and the lives of their families, says Manfred Quedzuweit, who
asserts
> that this fear
> is without any ground since police has many ways to protect the
> witnesses.
>
> Even the suspects do not feel like talking. The chances to find out
> anything at the
> hearing are equal to zero, says Josef Geissdoerfer, director of the
> Department for
> Fighting Crime in Munich, adding that brutality in violence and
silence
> is the main
> power of the Albanian Mafia.
> ----
>