Turkish authorities extradited an Albanian drug trafficking kingpin to Albania, police said Wednesday, nearly a year after he was taken into custody in İstanbul following a series of earlier arrests and convictions, Agence France-Presse reported.
“Dritan Rexhepi, a wanted Albanian national, was extradited to Albania following a joint operation between Interpol, Tirana and Turkey,” the police said in a press release.
After arriving in Tirana with a heavy security detail, the 45-year-old was transferred to a jail in the Albanian capital, according to police.
Albanian law enforcement accused the suspect “of being the head of a powerful criminal group in charge of drug trafficking between South America and Europe,” according to the police press release.
The Albanian press has labelled Rexhepi a “cocaine king” and the head of a former cartel called “Kompania Bello.”
The cartel, which brought together elements from 14 Albanian organizations and crime syndicates from other Balkan countries, was dismantled in 2020, according to Europol.
Rexhepi is also accused of murder, possessing illegal weapons and ammunition and suspected of overseeing the kidnapping and execution of another Albanian — Jan Prenga — in December 2019.
The alleged hit was suspected of being linked to the disappearance of a large quantity of cocaine in England.
In 2010 Rexhepi was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Italy for participation in a criminal group and drug trafficking but managed to escape after being incarcerated for just three years.
He was arrested again in Ecuador and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2015 but was released from prison in November 2021, according to local media reports.
Turkish authorities arrested Rexhepi in November 2023 in İstanbul, where he was found in possession of a Colombian passport.
Albanian criminal groups have long served as a vital link in the trafficking of cocaine and other narcotics between South America and Europe.