Seven doctors and SNAI official arrested for shielding Albanian mafia leader in Ecuador
Police carried out eleven raids in Guayaquil, Quito and Morona Santiago. The detainees allegedly forged documents to conceal the escape of drug trafficker Dritan Rexhepi.
Network of doctors and SNAI official shielded the escape of Albanian drug trafficker Dritan Rexhepi
The National Police detained eight people—seven doctors from the Ministry of Public Health and one official from the National Service for Comprehensive Care of Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI)—as part of an operation investigating an alleged corruption network for more than eight months, according to eluniverso.com. The raids were carried out in Guayaquil, Quito and Morona Santiago in coordination with the Office of the Attorney General of the State.
The detainees are under investigation for alleged organised crime and associated offences: procedural fraud, identity fraud, and forgery and use of false documents.
The beneficiary: the "King of Cocaine"
The structure allegedly operated in favour of Dritan Rexhepi, an Albanian citizen known as the King of Cocaine and also identified as Murataj Lulezim. Rexhepi was serving a thirteen-year prison sentence in Ecuador for illicit drug trafficking, part of which he served in the Cotopaxi Regional Social Rehabilitation Centre and later in cell block 6 of the Privation of Liberty Centre of Guayas Zone 8.
In 2021 he obtained conditional release and was obliged to present himself to the authorities every fifteen days. However, he ceased to comply with that obligation. By 2022, the authorities already suspected that the Albanian had left the country.
Interior Minister John Reimberg confirmed that Rexhepi left Ecuador through the Rumichaca border crossing on 7 September 2022, using a false identity. He was detained in Turkey in November 2023 when he entered Istanbul airport with a Colombian passport in the name of Benjamín Omar Pérez García.
Ali Yerlikaya, Interior Minister of Turkey, confirmed the arrest as part of an operation in Istanbul with participation by Italian and Albanian authorities. Rexhepi was identified in that country as leader of the Kompanio Bello cartel. Italy and Albania sought him for outstanding offences, and he also had a red notice from Interpol for the transport of drugs from South America to Europe.
Fraudulent documentation and a latex fingerprint
Despite being outside the country since 2022, in Ecuador there continued to be records of presentations in the name of Rexhepi before the SNAI and medical certificates issued in his favour. Reimberg explained that the network allegedly used "fraudulent documentation, false signatures, irregular medical certificates and false attendance records" to simulate that the drug trafficker was fulfilling his obligations in Ecuador.
The investigations also established that a fingerprint of the Albanian had been reproduced using a latex glove. That mechanism had allegedly been used since 2022, the year Rexhepi left Ecuadorian territory, and the detained SNAI official was the one who allegedly facilitated it during periodic presentations.
"Everyone falls here, white collar or not"
Minister Reimberg described the operation as "an important blow against corruption" and noted that the investigation "was gathering dust" until the Police requested a change of prosecutor to a specialist unit to execute it.
Reimberg warned that the investigation continues towards those who allegedly permitted the irregularities to occur within the judicial system. "Everyone falls here, white collar or not. There is no impunity. It is always a matter of time... We are working and fighting corruption," the minister emphasised.
Cocaine trafficking from prison
According to the investigations, Rexhepi allegedly continued to manage activities related to cocaine trafficking to Europe even whilst deprived of liberty in Ecuador. His structure allegedly strengthened the sending of drugs from South America to the European continent, with bribes to authorities and workers in both Ecuador and Europe.
Rexhepi originally arrived in Ecuador under a false identity, was detained and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. His case illustrates, according to the Ecuadorian Government, the vulnerabilities of the penitentiary and judicial system against transnational criminal organisations.
Source: Google News EC — Crime