Alex Trelinski
AN ALBANIAN gangster who’s been ‘on the run’ for years has been arrested by the Policia Nacional in the Alicante area.
The man has been described as one of Albania’s ‘Most Wanted’ and ran a criminal gang responsible for dozens of murders since 1998.
The 52-year-old fugitive- Lulzim B- has been directly accused of killing a businessman and his bodyguard in 2005 by personally detonating a remotely operated bomb when they were in a building elevator.
He’s also wanted as an accomplice in the fatal shooting of another person who used to be part of his crew, but left to form a rival criminal operation.
Lulzim B’s gang was regarded as one of the biggest criminal crews in the Durres region of Albania.
The Police Nacional said in a statement that the ‘gang achieved a large deal of control in the region and positioned itself as the main exporter of cocaine and weapons in the country.”
In 2012, an Albanian court sentenced 16 of the members of his organization to four life sentences and 267 years in prison for murder, extortion and kidnapping.
The boss though slipped through the net but years later, Albanian authorities heard that he might hiding out somewhere on Spain’s east coast and emphasised to their Spanish counterparts the importance of capturing Lulzim B.
After a number of weeks, police officers tracked him down to an apartment in the Playa de San Juan area of Alicante.
A discreet surveillance operation was carried out to ensure he was definitely staying there and officers made their arrest after identifying another member of the Albanian gang making preparations to move his boss to a new location.
Lulzim B was taken into the custody of the National Court in Madrid which handles extradition proceedings, with the Albanian telling the bench- not surprisingly- that he opposed the application from his native country.
