Human Lives Human Rights: Following its anti trafficking policy, the Government of Albania is making significant efforts to save the victims of trafficking, prosecuting more defendants and significantly increasing resources to the government-run shelter.
Police in Albania detained the members of the Mujahedin Khalq (MKO or MEK) terror group for carrying out the crimes like drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering, according to the official document seen by the Albanian news group Exit.al.
The document, that includes the signature and stamp of the Director of the Criminal Police Department, gives details of a serious rap sheet of crimes, reportedly involving the members of MEK.
The statement read: Two members of the MEK, along with Albanian and Greek accomplices, were detained for their direct involvement in human trafficking. On July 11, 2021, police stopped a vehicle carrying Syrian, Iraqi, and Kurdish citizens. Further investigations led to the arrest of key gang members.
The document further states that between 2019 and 2021, it was discovered that the same smuggling gang attempted to transfer some 400 members of the MEK from Albania to France.
However, this is not the end of the story. On July 18, 2021, a shipment of drugs was seized by police and two MEK senior officials, Narges Abrishamchi and Hassan Nayeb-Agha, were detained. They confessed to playing a pivotal role in organizing and transporting a shipment of drugs to Italy, the document read.
According to an official source who did not want to be named, this pattern of criminality, dates back to 2015. The documents and the source claim that information on these crimes has also been handed over to the US Embassy in Tirana.
Exit.al contacted the US Embassy for comment but no formal response has been given.
The MKO terror group, otherwise known as the People’s Mujahedin, has a record of assassinating around 12,000 high ranking Iranian officials.
One of the most terrible of such terrorist attacks by the MEK was the 1981 bombing of the Islamic Republic Party’s headquarters in Tehran. In this attack 73 officials were killed, many of them were either parliamentarian or held ministerial positions in the cabinet.
Although the designation has since been lifted, it was previously considered a terrorist organization by the EU, Canada, the US, and Japan. They now enjoy widespread support and even protection by the EU and the US and have been granted refuge in Albania since 2013.
In 2013, the US government requested the group, in exile, be settled in Albania, but MEK initially rejected the offer. They eventually agreed to relocate 3,000 members to the country, and the US donated $20 million to the UN refugee agency for this purpose.
In 2016, a further 280 members moved to Albania to a heavily guarded compound in Manze, Durres County.
