Other details have come to light regarding the 46-year-old Albanian, Ylli Didani , originally from Saranda, who has been identified as the head of a group that was hit a few days ago in Spain and the Netherlands, responsible for the trafficking of 2.3 tons of cocaine.
Didani has been arrested in America since March 2021, but the "Bandi-Hammer" operation carried out in recent days by the DEA in cooperation with the Spanish and Dutch police, which led to the arrest of 5 traffickers, again revealed his connections as the head of this group .
According to the Spanish media, the DEA followed the steps of Ylli Didani, the Albanian living in Detroit, for years. He is believed to be the leader of the criminal network that resulted in several cocaine shipments seized in Bilbao and Algeciras and arrests in Spain and the Netherlands.
The DEA pointed to pictures Didani had obtained from his text messages, before the coded messages were destroyed, of construction plans for submersible containers that would contain the cocaine, operated by remote control, GPS and magnets. There is even a photo of a prototype that illustrates this report.
The plan, according to the United States Government, was to place these torpedoes or drones under container ships and then separate them approximately 100 miles from their European destination, on the trade route, where a fishing boat would retrieve the torpedoes.
The idea was to carry out the operation on the coast of Galicia, since the organizations in the northwest of Spain are the great specialists of this mission. It is thought that artifacts of this class managed to reach the territory through this route.
The United States government also claims that Didani, whose companies were behind the complex network that served as cover for the aforementioned cocaine shipments among the bananas seized in Spain, purchased several armored vehicles from a North American company and sent to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.
It is from this last place that two of those arrested in the operation that happened this Saturday. The rest are Spanish. The US indictment detailed payment methods and cocaine purchases and how the payment and four seizures of cocaine shipments in Bilbao, Algeciras and Rotterdam were linked to Didan and how Didan passed the word on to others. The United States also alleges Didani sent text messages about buying bulletproof vests.
All this became known after the decryption of the Sky ECC platform used for his communication by the capo, who lived with his family in Chicago, first and then in Detroit (he was arrested in North Carolina).
His connections for cocaine shipments started mainly from Ecuador, where the Albanian mafia and the Balkan cartel have a very important presence, but also from Colombia, Brazil or the Dominican Republic.
Destinations, among others, would be Bilbao and Algeciras, as evidenced after recent investigations by Spanish and Dutch authorities that resulted in the arrest of five of his associates in Europe.
From the same deciphered conversations, it can be deduced that "the Albanian king". attempted to move 111 million euros between a German bank and another bank in Dubai. At the time of his arrest, Didani was wearing a bracelet worth more than 3,000 euros and a Rolex.
The idea for the underwater drone came, as detailed in the North American Attorney's indictment against Didan, from a Michigan-based businessman and aviation enthusiast named Marty Tibbits, known in the underworld as Dale Johnson.
The alleged ideologue of the device died in 2018, in a plane crash, leaving Didan, his partner, in sole charge of the business. Tibbits, who would finance the operations, gave way to powerful European organized crime figures.
The United States pointed the finger at the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. From Madrid, companies with possible links to Didan, who was not only dedicated to "innovation and development" with projects such as drones, but also negotiated large quantities of cocaine in containers, have been tracked down.
Along with Spain and the Netherlands, the United States prosecutor is looking at Dubai as a place of residence for people connected to Didan's businesses.
It is not surprising, since the emirate is the golden haven of European criminals of all classes and conditions. Meanwhile, in South America, Didani had good contacts in Ecuador.
The DEA attributes 3,400 kilograms of cocaine seized in containers over the past few years, among which 1,100 seized by Customs Surveillance in the port of Bilbao.
Countries such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic were also frequented by Didan, who is awaiting trial in the United States.
As for his alleged partners from Rías Baixas, it will be difficult to unmask them. 50 percent of the Spanish fishing fleet departs from Galicia, and among those thousands of boats, two or three dedicated exclusively to collecting underwater drones go completely unnoticed.
Police investigations focus on two well-known organizations with the capacity to invest in warehouses and a fixed presence in South America. Another thing is that they can prove their participation.