Since August 11, 2022, the "king of lots" Ervis Martinaj has disappeared without a trace.
His fate remains a mystery, while the hypotheses on his disappearance are numerous, from staging to murder by his opponents.
The much sought after justice, after the testimony of Nuredin Duman, has kept a lion cub at home.
Ervis Martinaj's puppy had become a "tourism" destination for photos of mice and celebrities on social networks, which were then posted on Instagram due to the fact that it was a rare animal.
Recently, journalist Artan Hoxha published information about Martinaj's last communications with the family. According to Hoxha, his last two text messages are related to the warning that the police would go to check and the second, to give food to the lion he had at his villa.
But why did Martinaj keep such an animal?
It seems that this has more to do with a pattern of big business or drug-trafficking bosses who often kept lion or tiger cubs in their apartments.
This is to show superiority and this idea is more fashionable in Latin American countries, where drug cartels thrive.
We also remind you that even El Chappo, the number 1 drug trafficker in the world, was carrying a tiger cub and after his imprisonment, it is the children who take care of him.
Journalist Artan Hoxha said on ABC that Martinaj was killed after being "betrayed" by a well-known crime figure near Vora. According to Hoxha, Martinaj went there to form an alliance against the groups that had targeted him, but there he was sold to the opponents and taken by a team dressed in Special Forces uniform.
What happened to Ervis Martinaj?
The police do not have an official version about what happened to him, however two main versions have appeared in the media so far. Some of the chronicle journalists report, referring to a video they say they saw, that Ervis Martinaj was caught by his opponents and executed. Meanwhile, the other version is related to a scenario related to his disappearance with the aim of avoiding the police who had declared him wanted, but also from opponents after the recent murders in his social circle.
Earthquake in the mafia world
The departure of Ervis Martinaj from the field, either physically eliminated or disappeared himself, seems to have created a new reality in the world of organized crime in the country, which circulates hundreds of millions of euros and has infiltrated their persons in the police and institutions of other law enforcement. It is about very high levels of organized crime, which can threaten even the close people of the ministers or the prime minister.
As journalist Artan Hoxha said in ABC, the re-dimensioning of organized crime started in 2018, right after the massacre of the former Block, where one of Martinaj's men was killed, while the latter was wounded in the neck, reports abcneës.al.
Who is "reigning" now?
The ABC journalist says that several criminal groups have been organized in front of Ervis Martinaj, which had a single goal: his departure from the "game" after he had turned into a character who had upset the balance of relations between crime, politics and the business world . Hoxha warned during the interview on ABC that the group in question, which has extremely healthy finances as well as an armed group of professionals, are the ones who will reign over the next decade in the field of organized crime.
According to him, this group is a "monster" that was created to get rid of Martinaj, while they will now turn into a great danger for the country since they have everything they need to be invulnerable, even political support.
Who wanted Ervis Martinaj dead?
It is known that one of Martinaj's strongest interventions in this triangle was the moment when he attempted to monopolize the betting market in Albania, a few years after the "End of Folly" operation that hit him hard at the end of 2013. It is according to Hoxha for the company "Bast Arena", in which they tried to involve a well-known politician, even declared "non grata" by the USA; a powerful businessman as well as a relative of a very important politician in the country.
Hoxha said that upon learning this, Martianaj had contacted the three, telling them that they should give up this attempt to get him out of the game entirely. "Bast Arena" was closed a few months later according to Hoxha.
Ervis Martinaj's departure from the scene may lead to a revival of attempts to monopolize the betting market in Albania through the granting of a national license.
Delivery to opponents
Artan Hoxha said on ABC that after the group in front of him seemed very strong and with a team of ruthless "killers", Ervis Martinaj started looking for new alliances. Initially, he went to Vlorë contacting a well-known figure of the world of crime there, while he was last seen in an area near Fushë Kruja, where he entered an apartment in order to establish an alliance with a criminal group that operates in this territory. Hoxha said that this is exactly the moment where it is suspected that this group "sold" Martinaj to his opponents, where those who took him intervened as a police team, dressed in Special Forces uniform.
The journalist says that this is exactly the moment when Martinaj's family received a message saying that "the police will do checks". According to Hoxha, initially Martinaj's people thought that the police took him, but it turned out to be his opponents.
However, despite the circulating video, which is blurry and poorly identified, the police have not yet released any version of one of the most mysterious disappearances of the last decade./ ABC