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| Albanian Mafia illustration |
Serbian media report that the Albanian mafia has cleansed more than 1.5 billion euros in the real estate market in the state of Serbia. They write that this money laundering has been carried out over a decade, and all with with the help of local businessmen, who have influence on different sectors.
The Serbian state media B92 quoting "Kurir" writes that: "The Albanian mafia in this way" became perhaps the biggest player with a money laundering scheme obtained through crime, mainly drug and arms trafficking. "Former Belgrade police director Marko Nikovic said that Albanian mafia cleanse about 80-100m euros per year by buying land for construction, investment in real estate and construction. This activity, according to them, is helped by Serbian businessmen.
"In these transactions, as a rule, Albanians never appear in public. This works through other people."
He says Albanians use persons with names like Petar Petrovic from Munich, who serves as the facade. Their biggest investments are in the south and southeast of Serbia.
He also added that Albanian drug clans use the same strategies and schemes for buying real estate in some of Croatia's, Montenegro's, and Bosnia and Herzegovina's tourist sites.