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Under the guise of merchants, Albanians began to associate with businessmen, military personnel, politicians, police officers, prosecutors, judges, and influential people in Ecuador.
Albanian Dritan Gjika is one of the biggest figures in the Albanian mafia in Ecuador. He established links to drug trafficking in Europe and money laundering. His capture on May 26, 2025 in the United Arab Emirates is considered one of the blows to organized crime. Gjika had two Interpol red notices and his network - attributed to the Balkan family clan Bello Company - included management, logistics and associates involved in money laundering and cocaine shipments.
One of his main partners was Kosovar Remzi Azemi. The foreigner was named as a suspect in the murders of an Albanian and a Montenegrin in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Azemi was captured in Macedonia in 2023 by a red notice issued against him for a 2018 double murder in the Casas Viejas neighborhood of Guayaquil.
Therefore, he had to be extradited to the country to enforce a preventive detention order against him. It was not publicly known whether he had arrived in Ecuador, but in April 2024, his lawyer announced the death of the 42-year-old Kosovar from a heart attack due to respiratory failure while he was at his home in downtown Guayaquil.
Four years ago, in 2014, he was identified as the head of drug trafficking for the Albanian mafia. The investigation led to his arrest and later his release.
Since 2017, at least six violent incidents have been reported, in which, according to investigations, members of this drug network who have arrived in the country are involved.
-Albanian mafia members killed in Guayas and their relationship
One of the first Albanians killed in Guayaquil was Ilir Hidri in 2017. He was shot dead by gunmen as he walked along 36th Street between C and Ch.
Investigations determined that Hidri was part of the Albanian mafia, dedicated to drug trafficking. Police determined that another member of the same network—Azemi Remzi—had been the mastermind behind the seizure of the victim’s property. This case led to the identification of a woman as a co-perpetrator, who managed to escape, and the arrest of other Albanians: Tresa Adriatik and Shefit Zeneti for illegal possession of weapons.
Two months later, in July 2017, Remzi Azemi was attacked while traveling in a high-end armored car through downtown Guayaquil. It was identified that one of the possible organizers was Tresa, in revenge for the murder of her partner Hidri.
In March 2018, Montenegrin Fadil Kačanić and his Ecuadorian partner Elsa Gallegos Chacón were murdered. The two were taken from their home in Ceibos in a fake police operation and taken to a third-level road on the coastal road, where they were blindfolded and executed.
According to the police, the criminals were in three vehicles and stole valuables and drugs. Fadil Kaçanic had family ties to Remzi Azemi: he was the Kosovar's uncle.
Fadil Kacanic was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2010 for drug trafficking. In 2015, his sentence was reduced and he was later placed in a social reintegration program and released.
In 2020, in another fake police operation, Albanian Tresa Adriatiku was murdered in the living room of her home in a private residential area in Samborondón. The hired killers used long guns and the crime—according to police—was revenge for drug trafficking. Six people were arrested, including the Albanian’s relatives.
That year, 56-year-old Albanian Sasa Spasic was also killed in Samborondón. He was in a shopping mall when he was shot. In his home, police found money and documents related to export ties.
In 2022 and 2023, two more Albanians were shot to death. One of the cases was in a restaurant and the other, outside a hospital in Guayaquil.
The crimes revealed the deceased's connections to the Albanian mafia. During the investigation, the Prosecution extracted information from phones that allegedly revealed conversations related to money collection, drug transportation and more.
-Social circles and the arrival of the Albanian mafia in Ecuador
The presence of Albanian mafia members in Ecuador was exposed by the murders that have occurred since 2017. However, the police had been targeting drug traffickers long before.
“Ecuavisa” spoke to a police officer, who said that Albanians had made occasional trips to the country since 2004. Their arrivals were to confirm the purchase and seizure of drugs. Then they went to Colombia. By 2009, they began to settle in Ecuador. An example of this is Dritan Gjika. According to the researcher, Albanians saw the ease of migration to the country, the climate, and even the lack of supervision by banks and other entities as opportunities to start businesses.
Thus they managed to build the facade of their business. Gjika founded a dozen companies related to construction, exports, agriculture, among other things.
The officer said that under the guise of merchants, Albanians began associating with businessmen, military personnel, politicians, police officers, prosecutors, judges and influential people in Ecuador. In the sentimental sphere, they were looking for beauty queen candidates as girlfriends.
They also became benefactors of several institutions. Sponsoring volleyball and soccer tournaments, as well as local events, they became part of the community as “banana entrepreneurs.” Now that they had the purchasing power, the Albanians invested in shrimp farms and other businesses, according to the official. To hide, they began using front people.
Regarding Dritan Gjika, who could be extradited to Ecuador, there are more powerful people, the officer warned. Gjika would be just one part of the Albanian mafia in the region. Security expert Kléber Carrión said the Albanian mafia is on another level. He said they have more money and more time in the illegal market.
Carrión explained that the power of money has allowed Albanians to move from the lower middle class to the upper echelons. This has also provided them with contacts in political circles. Gjika was linked to Rubén Cherres - killed in Santa Elena in 2023 - in an investigation against Danilo C., the brother-in-law of a former president.
For the specialist, the Albanian mafia does not copy the criminal practices of criminal groups in Latin America, but rather adopts the cruelty of the Asian mafia and other European mafias.
-Albanian mafia and suspected links with the police in Ecuador
The phones of Albanian Ilir Hidri, killed in 2017, and Montenegrin Fadil Kaçanic, killed with his wife in 2018, revealed their connections to the Albanian mafia. The conversations they both had with other people concerned commercial flights, container shipments destined for Europe.
But there was also communication with suspected members of the National Police, from whom they sought information about a certain agent. The Albanian mafia—in those years—sought contacts in the Ports and Airports Unit (UIPA), the Anti-Narcotics Unit, and even Dinased.
In the images they had on their devices, there were photos of bundles of banknotes, firearms and black jute bags containing drugs. Images inside the ports and passports of foreigners from Eastern Europe./ Adapted by “Pamphlet” from “ Ecuavisa ”
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