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The best killers are taken to Europe, The Telegraph: Albanians work directly with hoods in Ecuador

2022-09-25 14:54:11Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The best killers are taken to Europe, The Telegraph: Albanians work directly
Ecuador

 Every day from 17:00 to 21:00, children as young as 10 gather on the concrete soccer field in the northern Pascuales neighborhood of Guayaquil to learn how to kill.

For four hours as the sun sets over the port city in Ecuador, the 'school for sicarios' teaches its students to load their weapons, track their targets and kill.

The schools, an open secret, are the first step for young aspiring assassins (sicarios) to join rival gangs competing for a share of Europe's growing cocaine export market.

But 'graduation' is not guaranteed. New recruits are first expected to kill a rival gang member, or in some cases, their own family.

"They forced some children to kill their cousins ​​or uncles," Juan, 16, told The Telegraph.

"It's about proving loyalty," says the teenager, who has killed 45 people since he signed up at the age of 12, all in cold blood.

"The children know that if they refuse, they will be killed. They have no choice," he adds.

The rise of killing camps in Guayaquil comes as a fierce new battle emerges in the city. Local factions are engaged in a brutal war to work for the new masters of the cocaine-exporting region: Albanian gangs. This bustling port, the gateway to Ecuador's Pacific beaches and the Galapagos Islands, has turned into a war zone.

And the ripples could be felt as far away as Grimsby. According to British police sources, of the record 11 tonnes of cocaine seized in Great Britain last year, most likely came from criminal factions from the Balkans. They ship drugs to British shores from South America, via Belgium or the Netherlands, which have become major drug ports in Europe in recent years. Migration from Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, has allowed gangs to set up in key cities across the continent and take over trafficking networks previously dominated by the Italian mafia. In South America, the fragmentation of organized crime structures since the peace deal with Farc guerrillas has opened up the drug market, allowing Albanian gangs to enter.

Leaving aside the traditional Italian or Mexican intermediaries, the Albanians negotiate directly with the producers. They now basically command the entire supply chain from South America to Europe. And that brings a cheaper, better quality product to countries like Britain, where cocaine use has become ubiquitous, and no longer just among the middle classes. The National Crime Agency says violent Albanian gangs now dominate the British underworld. Guayaquil, a key delivery point on the Albanian gas pipeline, has become the latest epicenter of the world's drug-related violence.

"Everybody wants a piece of the 'pie'," says Juan, explaining how local gangs are fighting for supremacy to work with and deal with Albanians.

In the poorest neighborhoods of Guayaquil, killing has become almost routine, and many of the victims are children and teenagers.

Last month, two brothers, ages 6 and 10, were shot to death in their home while playing with their toys. A third child, 5 years old, was injured. At first, police believed the children were "collateral damage," but now they say the minors were directly targeted by their father's criminal rivals.

"Another result was settled," says Juan.

Police figures show the number of under-18s killed in the city so far this year has tripled since 2021.

"This is all new to us," Colonel Byron Ramos, deputy chief of the country's anti-narcotics police, told The Telegraph. "And it's getting worse."

Guayaquil's homicide rate has doubled to 34.1 per 100,000 residents in the past 12 months, making it one of the most dangerous cities in the world. And it's not just gangsters who get killed. Prosecutors involved in cases against drug traffickers and journalists exposing their illegal networks have also been killed. Two weeks ago a car bomb exploded in the city, killing five people. Ecuador's interior minister, who did not respond to requests for an interview, said the bombing was a declaration of war by the gangs.

The president immediately declared a state of emergency, effectively militarizing the city and establishing curfews and checkpoints. But it's too late.

Recent arrests of judges, lawyers and navy commanders, all implicated in corruption scandals and international cocaine trafficking, show how the country is fast becoming a narco-state. Albanians rely on local gangs in Ecuador to help them transport their cocaine and provide security. And this has created a fierce rivalry between opponents to become the biggest and the best.

According to sources within Ecuador's intelligence community, the Albanians collaborate with different gangs at different points in the supply chain, but those with more territory, more weapons and more control become the preferred partners.

One of the losers in the new order is the Choneros gang, which once dominated Ecuador's criminal landscape. The killing of the gang leader last year sparked infighting and a series of prison riots in which more than 300 inmates were killed, many of them beheaded.

"It's about getting stronger," 'Jonny', a gang leader, tells The Telegraph from inside his bulletproof SUV.

"We have to show Albanians, Mexicans, whoever, that we are serious and that we can do real business," he says, wearing sunglasses and heavy jewelry.

The prison riot still casts a shadow over Ecuador, such was the extreme violence that led to the dismemberment of about half a dozen inmates.

John Campuzano Trivino, a father, pleaded from his cell via social media for authorities to intervene before he was killed.

His son told The Telegraph: “The gang were cutting a hole through the wall. Their plan was to put an end to their rivals and my father, who was not a gangster, was one of many caught in the middle. The authorities did nothing."

As new gangs fight for control inside and outside the prison, the need for foot soldiers has become more important than ever. Teenagers become obvious targets.

"I only hire someone to recruit young people," says Johnny, waving his pistol at a young woman crossing the street.

"Those with no parents, no money, or those addicted to drugs are the easiest to convince, but they are not always the smartest or most capable. That's why we invest a lot in training schools and sicarios," he says.

Young trainees often harbor dreams of a better life and, according to Juan, make them come true. Juan says that the Albanians are starting to take the best sicarios with them to work in Europe.

"I know three of my friends who went. They pay for the visa and everything. I never had the chance. But that's what most of us dream of."

Juan's future within the gang, at least, looks promising.

The teenager, who has seven weapons in his arsenal, including two 38mm pistols, a 9mm and a mini Uzi, has formed his own group of what he calls "special forces".

Aguilas Menores, or Young Eagles, are a group of about 20 children and teenagers, who perform some of the hardest and most high profile 'hits'.

"The most difficult murders are the victims who were kidnapped first. They know they will die and always seek to live.”

Like many teenage gangsters, he began his criminal career moving drugs around Ecuador. He says there is an army of kids transporting cocaine on public transport by paying the drivers. Albanians run two supply chains in Guayaquil, one from southern Colombia and the other from Peru.

"Ecuador has become a place of strategic importance for Albanians", says Colonel Ramos of the anti-narcotics police. "We are literally in the middle of their operations."

The port on the Guayas River in Guayaquil has become a major cocaine distribution center for Albanians as they seek to increase their exports to Europe.

In 2021, police seized a record 210 tonnes of cocaine at the port, up from 128 tonnes in 2020. Much of the technology used by Ecuadorian police has been provided by UK aid, including contributions to a new nerve centre, where intelligence of the police profiles every shipment leaving the port.

Police at the port told the Telegraph that there are four main techniques used by traffickers at the port. The first, which is preferred by Albanians, involves running a company, which they either set up themselves or buy to hide cocaine in everything from tea to shrimp.

An alternative is the "rip-on/rip-off" technique. Traffickers break open legitimate export containers to transport the drugs and use cloned customs stamps to hide their tampering. The cocaine is then removed by gangsters in Europe, who intercept the containers at their destination. Third, traffickers hide drugs in the holds of container ships, and have even begun to use fishing vessels.

And finally, traffickers have begun strapping drugs to the hulls of ships docked in ports, and police have been forced to train ship captains to detect them in advance. Most containers leaving Guayaquil arrive in Antwerp in Belgium or Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where customs officials are said to be offered tens of thousands of euros to turn a blind eye.

It represents a major shift, with most cocaine previously arriving at southern European ports controlled by Spanish gangs and the Italian mafia. Northern ports bring Albanians closer to the most profitable markets, including Great Britain. Belgian authorities in Antwerp say a record 90 tons of cocaine, worth 13 billion euros, were seized at the port last year. Experts believe that Albanians work as a loose network and not as a top-down gang with a leading figure.

But growing wealth has caused friction. The five murders of Albanians in Guayaquil in recent years are the result of internal rivalries, prosecutors believe. Dritan Rexhepi is one of Albania's biggest criminal masterminds in Ecuador and is known for trafficking cocaine to the UK, commissioning much of his work from behind bars.

In 2020, he sought to settle scores against a rival Albanian gangster in Britain, Ndrek Prenga, whom he had accused of stealing one of his shipments. He is said to have organized the kidnapping and alleged murder of Prenga's brother in Albania, Jani Prenga. In November of last year, Rexhepi was released on bail from prison on drug trafficking charges, despite being considered a flight risk.

The 39-year-old was told to report to authorities every 15 days until his sentence ends in 2027, but court documents, obtained by The Telegraph, show that since January this year he has failed to appear. His lawyer in Ecuador was shot and killed in April last year.

In the United Kingdom, cocaine of Albanian origin enters through the ports of Harwich or Tilbury in Essex, and Immigham and Hull along the Humber River. Much of it is thought to find its way into the hands of the Hellbanianz, a gang with roots in Barking, east London, who recruit new traders on social media with the promise of Ferraris, gold Rolex watches and £50 notes .

In the coastal town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, local dealers told The Telegraph that Albanian gangs have set up a network of shops and barbers from which to sell their drugs. The Telegraph found Albanian gangsters offering loans in the form of cash and drugs to teenagers. When these cannot be returned, vulnerable users are forced to hide and sell drugs as payment, in a form of modern slavery.

"They gave me drugs for free. I knew it was too good to be true, but I was desperate," says a 16-year-old cocaine user who asked to remain anonymous.

“I was then told I owed them £200. I couldn't pay and they started threatening my mother, my sister, everyone. Now, I am their slave to settle a score."

In Guayaquil, Juan also feels trapped. He says he wants to start a new life but admits he will likely die within five years.

"People like me have no future," he says. "To someone somewhere, I'm just a 'case' to be solved."


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