Vlora Police executed the arrest measures for 5 officers of the Coast Guard on Thursday, who after the rescue operation of a dinghy with 55 refugees on it are suspected of allowing to flee the human traffickers who were driving the vessel.
Boat seized by the police in Vlora
The Vlora Court imposed a security measure "prison arrest" for 5 sailors of the ship "Bora" of the Coast Guard, who are accused that during the operation to rescue 55 refugees from the Middle East in January 2021, let go of the speedboats accused of trafficking of human beings.
The security measures of the court were implemented on Thursday morning by the Vlora police, who announced the arrest of the commander of the ship Bora, Bledar Bufaj, and the sailors Roland Çanaj, Ardit Alikaj, Sejfulla Beja, and Besmir Meçaj. Five coast guards of the Navy are accused by the Vlora Prosecutor's Office of "abuse of duty" committed in collaboration.
According to the police, these persons "abused their duty, not ensuring the detainment of all persons evacuated during the operation, namely the driver of the vessel who was able to leave, the citizen E.L., one of the three arrested by the Police in January ”.
Edmond Dëmaj, the defense lawyer of one of the detainees, considered as illegal the detention and said that the accusation was baseless, as the Coast Guard has no right to perform arrests.
Damaj told to local media that the sailors had appeared whenever called by the prosecution and that the detention a few months after the incident was in fact an attempt to put them under pressure. He said that among the arrested were sailors who were not on the deck of the vessel and did not know what had happened.
On January 19, police arrested Emiliano Likaj, one of the suspects as the driver of the dinghy. Earlier, two hotel owners suspected of harboring refugees on behalf of traffic were detained earlier. In total with 5 Coast Guard, the number of people arrested for the event goes to 8.
Coast Guard officers intervened on the evening of January 8, 2021, at the Vjosa estuary after an SOS signal from the dinghy that had sunk due to the waves. The rescue operation brought ashore 55 refugees, mostly from Syria, who were headed to Italy. Some of the refugees came ashore with burn wounds from the mix of the fuel with the saltwater.
But while they were rescued together with the others, two Albanian citizens who are suspected of driving the vehicle did not come ashore and it is suspected that they were allowed to leave.