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Another internationally wanted major player has been arrested in Turkey.
Dritan Rexhepi, also called the “King of Cocaine”, was arrested in a major operation on Friday in a luxury villa by the task force in Istanbul.
– We are determined to rid our country of national and international criminal organizations and drug dealers, says Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
During the operation, codenamed “Operation Kartell”, held in cooperation with Turkish, Italian and Albanian authorities, they struck the luxury villa in the Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul.
The goal of the operation was to arrest “the Albanian king of cocaine”, Dritan Rexhepi, 43.
He was wanted by Interpol and leader of the international drug cartel Kompania Bello, which transported quantities of drugs from South America to Europe.
In addition to drug smuggling, he is accused of, among other things, murder and kidnapping.
Inside the house, the police found quantities of cash, jewellery, watches and weapons.
Found thanks to collaboration
In pictures that Turkish authorities published on the platform Xpublished on Friday, you can see how Rexhepi is carried out of the luxury villa by masked policemen.
According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, he was found thanks to cooperation with the Italian intelligence service. Rexhepi had been placed under surveillance ever since he landed at Istanbul airport and entered the country using a fake Colombian passport.
– I congratulate our heroes who carried out the effort. – We are determined to rid our country of national and international criminal organizations and drug dealers, says Yerlikaya.
Last week, Swedish Maxilian Rivkin was arrested, also in Turkey, after being internationally wanted by the USA and Sweden.