By Boldnews.al
Colombian testimony Cesar Augusto Pelaez Triana before the Serious Crimes Court sheds light on how cocaine trafficking from Latin American countries takes place in the Balkans and beyond, in Western Europe.
He risked being sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of a network that tried to bring about 240 kilograms of cocaine in Albania in a banana container blocked at the Bari port in Montenegro.
Until now, the investigations have not revealed who the orderers of this large quantity of narcotic drugs are, but the mechanism of how the network works is understood.
Cezar Triana testified before the court that he was “employed” by two of his compatriots to receive 600,000 to 1 million euros in Albania after the narcotics arrived at the destination. For this service, he would be paid 200,000 euros. But since cocaine was discovered in Montenegro, traffic collapsed and Triana surrendered to the Albanian police for fear of being killed by traffic organizers.
Boldnews.al exclusively brings the testimony of Cesar Triannas to the Serious Crimes Court:
“I came on 19.05.2014 with the Alitalia Company, with the Barcelona-Rome-Tirana line. No one met me and I came to Tirana with a taxi I paid 20 Euros. On the Internet I found a hotel that I can not remember the name and asked the taxi driver who recommended another hotel in the center of Tirana called “Albatros”. There I stayed one day and then I was transferred to another hotel that was near the center and cost about 35 euros. I stayed there for 4-5 days and then I went to a cheaper hotel near a boulevard where buses went to Greece. In front of the hotel there was a table that wrote “10 Euros”. There I stayed until 09.06.2014, the date I went to Rinas.
I communicated with an Albanian citizen one day after I came to Albania. I made the conversation from the receptionist’s mobile phone. It was in the afternoon and he told me not to stay at Albatros hotel, but to go to another hotel. There is a taxi with a 60 year old driver who took me and took me to a hotel somewhere near the center.
The purpose of my visit to Albania was to get some amount of money for a drug load that would come with a double bottom container. I was commissioned by two Colombians, one named El Chiquetette and Perea, to come to Albania and after contacting an Albanian number who, as I said, received it from the hotel, I would receive a tranche of money ranging from 600,000 up to 1m euros. From this job I would win 200 thousand euros.
I met Chiquetette in Bogotta, Columbi, to whom I did the same job. I went, I got some money in Medllin, from which I earned 30 thousand euros. He gained my confidence and gave me the task of getting the first tranche of the amount of money that would come for the drug. The other citizen, who was Perea, Chiquetette’s companion, was with him and did not speak much before, only with jazz and let me realize that it was more important than Chiquettete. He told me I would get the amount of cash in Cash, as I said above ranged from 600,000 to 1 Million. For that, I would communicate with an Albanian citizen, for whom they gave me the phone number.
The following day, after I arrived, I communicated with the Albanian citizen in the phone number, which was given by Chiquetette, from the mobile phone of the counters at Hotel “Albatros”. It was afternoon, and the person I communicated was an Albanian citizen, male and who spoke Spanish. He told me that “when I’m ready I’ll let you know.” Then he asked me where I stood and I explained that I was staying at the Albatros Hotel. He told me you would leave there and go to another hotel. For this he sent me a taxi, who came to me and took me to another hotel, somewhere near the city center. This was the risk I had assumed and for which I would win 200,000 euros. For this I talked to a friend in Barcelona, Huan Carlos, who introduced me to a person from Kali and who had acquaintances and links to the Banks in Albania, Greece and Hungary. This person I met in Barcelona and he had undertaken to help him. When I received the money I would call him and he would come to Albania.
I did not talk any more and later I saw on TV that a great deal of drugs was caught in Montenegro, with distinction Albania. I thought it was a load that was expected to come, for which I would get the amount of money. After that, thinking that on the basis of the phone call I made, the police could catch me and I found business cards of the two lawyers who I thought I might need at one point. I do not know any of them, except I’ve seen the studios and got the cards. I stayed at the hotel and in the bars, pending contact with the right person. After the announcement on television I was afraid and wanted to leave, but I did not have a return ticket and I wanted to communicate with the people of the house to buy me the ticket. I bought an Albanian cartoon card and communicated with my sister, called Dora Pelaez, whom I said “I’m fine and not worried.” I do not remember, since I have consumed a lot of alcohol, and I remember that I only told the taxi driver at the airport and so … “.
