"He was a guy who scored a lot of goals," said some Albanians in London who knew Nertil Buzi .
In the everyday jargon of criminal groups, " scoring " means dishonesty in drug dealing or, worse yet, in the robbery of drug houses.
Tch has built the dynamics of how Nertil Buzi , who was taken hostage four years ago in London, ended his life by committing suicide on Friday evening, after taking his ex-fiancée hostage and killing both of her parents.
It all started at the end of September 2022.
A criminal group active in the city of Manchester arrives in London.
They were able to convince Nertil Buzi to meet them at a hotel in East London, as a neutral negotiating zone, after something had gone wrong with some of the group's cannabis houses from Vlora.
Buzi unknowingly admitted that he was heading towards a well-planned hostage trap.
As soon as he entered the hotel room, they chained him to the room's heating radiator, putting duct tape over his mouth.
They insisted on paying him 400,000 pounds , but during the first two days they realized that Buzi did not have this amount available in England.
According to him, he had sent the money to Albania.
The hostage-takers advance by searching for money in Buzi's family in Albania.
From Nertil Buzi's phone, they video call his brother, showing him tied up and brutally beaten.
Same request.
"Either take 400,000 pounds to Vlora, or Nertil would be killed."
The hostage-takers thought that by using the hostage's phone, they were safe from having their location revealed.
A few hours later, from this request, another phone call, this time with a video call.
This time, torturing him by pulling out his nails with pliers.
At this moment, Nertil's brother realizes how serious the situation is.
He goes to the Fier Local Police Directorate, testifying about the phone calls received from London.
This directorate, through a letter marked "Secret", sends it to the Directorate for Foreign Relations at the State Police.
Immediately, Pëllumb Seferi, director of this directorate, thinks quickly and initiates a joint operation with British partners.
Neritan Nallbati, director of the criminal police at the State Police, is also involved in this operation.
Coordination of the operation in London occurs through consolidated Albania-UK police channels.
The British react immediately.
The Metropolitan Police's elite hostage-taking team is mobilized, as well as the NCA, the National Crime Agency.
Initially, through Nertil Buzi's phone number, the area from which this number was sending a signal is located.
A surveillance team is sent, stationed outside the hotel.
Two female agents book a room at this hotel.
The surveillance group manages to photograph several people entering and leaving at different time intervals.
The photos are analyzed at the Met Police operations office and it is concluded that they were Albanians.
They are analyzed by comparing them with photos in the English national police system.
The identity of only one of them is revealed.
The phone number he was using was then discovered and tapped, an action that led to the identification of other members of the criminal group, including a woman.
Meanwhile, the two female agents' primary mission was to identify the room where the hostage, Nertil Buzi, was being held.
In complete secrecy, they ask the hotel manager for security camera footage from the last 10 days, without telling him that someone was being held hostage in that hotel.
CCTV footage is being analyzed in the operations office of this operation. The moment Nertil Buzi arrives at the hotel, takes the elevator and heads to a room is revealed.
Now that the Met Police had the exact location of the hostage, the rescue plan began to be drawn up.
The biggest unknown was whether the hostage-takers were armed or not.
It is decided to intervene with an armed squad at midnight.
Meanwhile, in Fier and Tirana, calls coming to Nertil's brother's phone were recorded and sent to the Metropolitan Police in real time.
"If we hadn't intervened to free him at that moment, Nertil Buzin would have been killed, as from the intercepted conversations the criminal group was increasingly realizing the impossibility of obtaining the 400,000 pounds."
Initially, they fired a tear gas grenade into the room from outside and then neutralized three people in the room.
Nertil Buzi was in a state of near collapse as a result of the torture and was taken to the hospital under police protection.
At the time, at the end of the operation, a Met Police spokesman said that for this hostage-taking they had been arrested on charges of hostage-taking, false imprisonment and threatening to kill Albanian citizens.
Nelid Arapi , 26, of Haringey, London, was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, possession with intent to sell cannabis and threatening to kill.
Known by the nickname " Kid Vlonjati ", with a criminal record in Albania since the age of 19.
John Gouvely , 28, was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment.
Fation Arapi , 27, of Peterborough, was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment.
Armando Brahashaj , 26, of Brent, London, was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Eduart Çepele , 30, a resident of Manchester, was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment.
Emanuela Arapi , 28, of Barrington Street, Manchester, was charged with false imprisonment.
After his health improved, Nertil Buzi cooperated with the police, testifying about all the circumstances of the hostage-taking.
He was held in a safe house by the Met Police as a key prosecution witness in the ensuing court proceedings. Buzi initially agreed to testify against his captors.
Two years after the six arrested were due to appear at Harrow Crown Court, the prosecution withdrew charges of hostage-taking, false imprisonment and threats to kill against the five.
Five of them were automatically released from the courtroom, while on April 15, 2024, Harrow Crown Court sentenced Nelid Arapi to 16 months in prison for possession of cannabis with intent to sell.
There are two possible hypotheses as to why this hostage-taking process collapsed.
First, Nertil Buzi may have reneged on his promise to testify against his captors.
Second, prosecutors are familiar with the defense strategy, which would discredit Buzi in court with evidence of his involvement in criminal activities.
And if this were to happen, it would be a public embarrassment for the prosecutors, and as a result of this risk, they withdrew the charges.
All of this, a disappointment for those involved in Tirana and London in this complex operation, with the only consolation being the release of the hostage alive./ Tch